Naruto: Soul Eater
by The God's Eye
Summary: After living a life full of neglect, Naruto finally breaks when they try to mould him. But he has something in store for him at the brink of death. Doing the impossible and vanquishing the sins of the 'Wanderers'. What really is a man without Death or Life. Naruto/Harem possible. Not your everyday Naruto story, this is Darker than most, Tempted?
1. Chapter 1: Awakening

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: The site's name is Fan fiction, is it not?

Normal speech: "Pathetic"

Normal thinking: ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation): Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Scene change/POV change: - () -

Author's Note: I really appreciate you reading this and I hope you like it.  
Version 2: I took the reviews of one person as meaningful and would like to apologize to him/her if I seemed disrespectful. I updated some stuff, corrected my mistakes and renewed it a bit. Felt it was a bit cheesy. 9/03/2016  
Version 3: Ok… I'm a bit disappointed in the story after looking at it critically… especially the way I clichéd the character's personalities.  
Warnings: Story contains a varying amount of violence, gore, and a bit… ok a lot of minor abuse and 'language' and is not suitable for light hearted.

 **\- (Chapter One: Awakening) -**

 **\- (Descending into an abandoned building; Red Light District) -**

" _I think today's my birthday… maybe it isn't… I don't want it to be… this is the day the fourth died."_ A knock rang out in the background and it was ignored. _"Being ignored doesn't help; those two are my only friends but they have families, it's not like they – the villagers – show their hidden hate but they don't show me any love either, do they do that to everybody who was born today… or only to me."_ Two knocks this time, _"What's that noise… Ah well let's sing the birthday song._

The boy in the makeshift bed wrapped in dirty clothes croaked in a raspy voice or maybe it was supposed to be a song, "Happy… Birthday to me; Happy Birthday to me," The boy stopped and started to cry or maybe wheeze; it was hard to tell with the dryness of his throat. More knocks – continuous – the boy stands and looks around with fear in his eyes then he walks to his apartment's door.

When he opens the door he sees nothing… then he looks down and receives a spray of gas to the face, the last thing he sees being a gloved hand clutching his hair and his point of view shifted as he was lifted unto the shoulder of the man.

\- (Random Training Ground) -

Some people say a true monster is one who feels nothing and loves bloodshed. Others say it's from one's origins or legacy. None of these applied to Naruto Uzumaki; the boy, the monster, the demon, the devourer – well… at least not yet.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" The screams were heard all around the training ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" They came again louder than before.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- Gurk ...Gurgle gurgle... *cough* *cough*(1)" The screams stopped abruptly with sounds akin to choking.

Those blood curdling screams sent shivers coursing through the watery spines (for they were all cowards) of some of the nearby celebrating villagers of Konahagakure. Why would they not investigate? This was because they justified it as Yakuza business and they cured their guilt with feelings of righteousness and hopes of glory. They drowned their shames in festivities and fire crackers, food and tainted drink; the fools of Konahagakure.

One would ask where his protectors where; this boy being beaten, no tortured. The Third Hokage? Pfft. He was being pushed around by his own council – some great God of Shinobi he turned out to be.

The ANBU; Kakashi Hatake: probably asleep dreaming about scores of women asking for his body or moping about the death of his friends and mentor. Itachi Uchiha had his hands full with clan business. And even some of them (The ANBU) participated in this 'activity'. All of them had convinced themselves it was good for the village; and stress release, taking out their pent up anger on the little boy.

Back to the little boy being tortured; he was so young you would expect him to be asleep at this ungodly hour – Oh, how he longed for its sweet touch – sleep; it would take all the pain away-

*Shhhh* the sound of burning flesh penetrated the air and its revolting smell was introduced.

"HNNNNNNNNNNNNN" Naruto screamed through his rough gag, eyes wide open, body going through spasm after spasm, reacting to the hot kunai being run through his back as if the wielder wanted to carve something.

Naruto just wanted to black out, to forget the pain. He saw black mist crawling its way into his vision. He thanked Kami for answering him till a sharp pain tore out through his back. His body convulsed and his teeth grinded against the rough fabric in his mouth. His thanks turned to curses as the highly efficient Raiton: Kakusei (Lightning Style: Awake) (2) jutsu coursed through his entire body keeping him wide awake – that plus his convulsing body aggravating his already dislocated bones and torn joints. It was a wonder he was still alive.

On the topic of Death, Naruto cursed the Death god rather vehemently, for not letting him die. Then he cursed Konohagakure and all its inhabitants. He was brought out his session by the musings of his torturers.

"What should we do next?" Asked one of the cowards,

"Let's… burn the demon at stake" One said.

Shouts of approval rang through the crowd.

Naruto felt himself being carried – dragged being a better word – by a few in the crowd. Naruto then felt unimaginable pain course through his body, its origin a stake going right through his spine and stomach. Try as he may he couldn't move his body- he was paralyzed.

Despite his earlier hopes, he thought frantically, 'I don't want to die… not right now… I want to live… Please let me live. _NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO'_ Even with his weird healing factor, he doubted anything could help him now. As the crowd poured kerosene on him – by some fortunate event – he was bludgeoned into unconsciousness.

\- (In Naruto's Mindscape) -

"Wh-where am I?"

"Coommee… ccchhhhiiiiilllld" Naruto barely made out the whisper.

Following the voice, Naruto cried out. "Where are you?"

"Cooomeeee… chiiiilllld" Naruto followed all the while observing he was in a sewer of some kind. He knew all the sewers in Konoha and this was not one of them; or was it. It had a familiar feel but as he got closer to the voice they turns became more erratic, not like any sane person had designed them.

"Come… child…" The voice grew louder at every correct turn and less so when he made a wrong one. Finally he reached a large draconian door. Pushing it open took great effort; his weak limbs strained. Then he realized it – He had his strength back.

' _Where in Konoha am I? I know the villagers didn't let me go… so…'_ Naruto mused as he a struggled through the slightly open door. He was in a disproportionate room of some kind, walking forward he felt stairs under his feet – they were much appreciated as they helped him get out of the dark murky liquid he had been walking in. He felt the softest carpet he had ever felt underneath his bare feet.

" **Wool from the body of rugged back Vorbakian Devil, In case you were wondering** "The voice rang out yet again, louder. Now that Naruto could hear it closely it sounded feminine and had a hollow tint to it.

"Who… Where are you?" Asked Naruto, as he turned, trying to see the figure who just spoke. What he saw when he returned to his previous position shocked him more than anything he had seen in his short life. There was a slightly busty feminine figure clad in a simple long dark-purple dress with matching elbow-length gloves. She had waist length, dark violet hair that seemed sentient. Her face was heart-like marred only by the curved horns on her forehead. Her skin was also a pale grayish complexion. He was sure she was a sculpture made by the finest hands down to those shapely legs. Her pupils that nearly filled her narrow whites were of a dark purple color with a lack iris and it sucked him in. What shocked him most was the beast the lady was standing on. It was a giant carrot orange furred fox with nine huge tails swishing madly behind him.

Naruto then fell flat on his ass, backed away in fear and then descended, rather painfully, into the murky liquid yet again.

' _Eh… What the hell?! What's the… the nine tailed demon fox doing in the sewer with a pretty girl standing on top of him?'_ Naruto physically scratched his head as he recovered from the weird sight.

"… **a lot of time left"** Naruto caught the last part of the Kyūbi's first sentence. The " **Reaper-Hime and I have decided that this is the best thing t-"**

" Whoa… Whoa… Whoa! Wait a minute, you nine-tailed pincushion." The Kyūbi raised an eyebrow at this brave interruption, "Do I look like I can't make my own decisions?" Naruto had his arms folded in defiance. "Well let me have you know I may be of below average mind and body **but… I still have my free will and please don't decide for me!"** The woman on the Kyuubi giggled and Naruto frowned

" **Looks like someone's accepting the darkness pretty well** _ **–**_ **what the 'pincushion' meant to say was I've decided to help you… become above average"** She chuckled once more and thought, _ **'What an interesting young one you gave birth to Akashi-sama.'**_

" **Naruto, do you really want the power to turn the tables?"**

"Yes…" He hesitated not being able to stay angry at her and not completely trusting of this foreigner, not that the Kyūbi was an acquaintance, Naruto asked: "So you give me this power… what next?" the hollow tone from before completely nonexistent.

" **Next… You wake up..."**

\- (Outside World) - (5 minutes later) -

"Hey look the fire is going dim!" The one assigned to watch it cried.

"Pour more of that fuel into it then you dumbass!" Another retorted.

" **It's not very healthy to cook food over a dying boy's fire"** A voice rang out.

"I-I-it's coming from the f-f-fire" stammered the first speaker. Then the sky went dark as the moon and stars were bathed in red.

"It's the demon's dying tricks, I tell you" cried out a bold one… before he was impaled by a bladed staff of some sort.

" **Oh I assure this is no trick it's quite real"**

The night was filled with blood curdling screams, the smell of blood, and oddly enough the demonic, insane laughter of a child.

\- (Chapter End) -

Done finally thanks for reading. Here are the legends:

1\. He was being water boarded… that thing were, cold water is poured onto your face with only a cloth giving your space. You're literally on the edge of asphyxiation.

2\. Kakusei (awake)  
Rank: N/A  
Description: Made by an interrogator to make his sessions more effective. It is basically a T&I technique to keep subject awake by stimulating the parts of the brain wanting to rest. Sometimes used by Shinobi who do not want to sleep during missions; also used by med-Nins to keep dying patients awake; although it is not recommended.  
Additional Notes: The name was made up by some smartass friend of mine. Also the amount of chakra charged into the attack

Once again thanks for reading. All suggestions are readily accepted and considered.

Please alert me to any mistakes and in the words of many fan-authors "constructive criticism is appreciated"

Till next time. Ja Ne


	2. Chapter 2: Bloodbath

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: Is this even important. *sighs* I do not own Naruto, and I am not going to say who does!

Normal speech: "Pathetic"

Normal thinking: ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation): Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Scene change/POV change: - () -

Author's Note: The second 'effing' chapter. Enjoy.  
Version 2: Yes I also updated this; changed some things, and also corrected my mistakes.  
Warnings: Story contains a varying amount of violence, gore, and a lot of minor abuse and 'language' and is not suitable for light hearted.

\- (Chapter 2: Blood Bath) -

Gore; Graphic violence visually depicted, especially the realistic depiction of serious physical injuries involving blood, flesh, bone and internal organs. That was the site that messed up Sarutobi's morning. Blood splattered all over the streets. The smell of burnt and rotten flesh filled the air at the scene. Out of the 100 people that attacked whoever did this, only two 'survived'- though greatly traumatized; and one seemed to be moaning every few moments.

"Who…who did this sir" One pig masked ANBU asked after spilling his breakfast.

"I do not know" Sarutobi replied "Send these two in for medical attention, then to the Yamanakas."

"YESSIR!" Buta then went on his way.

' _Who could be the cause of such carnage?'_ Then he groaned at the thought of the council meeting later.

\- (Elsewhere: Naruto's Apartment) -

" **Ugnnn! My H** ead Aches!" Naruto voice gradually lost its hollow, demonic tone

.The voice of reaper-Hime rang out claiming," **Do not fret, it is but a mere head ache** "

' _Easy for you to say.'_

" **I heard that. I do reside in your mind"**

"Great, now my thoughts have been breached. Where is the privacy?"

Naruto felt a familiar pull and found himself before the great door.

As he entered the Door he yelled: "You know, you could just bring me after the door"

" **Oh, desist from thy petty complains** " The voice of R-H(1) came at him.

"Why do you talk like that, and-"

" **AAAAARGGGHHH be quiet you hairless monkey, I'm trying to sleep** " The Kyūbi growled out, lazily and irritated; cutting Naruto's speech short.

"Why you overgrown, yellow fur ball. Why don't you show yourself" Naruto challenged looking for The Kyūbi.

" **I am. You just aren't looking in right direction.** " The Kyūbi retorted mockingly.

Naruto followed the voice and was a little unnerved at what he saw.

The Kyūbi had risen to it full height, its Nine Tails poised as if ready to strike. But what really topped the cake was the grin and crimson red eyes on The Kyūbi's face.

" **It's Kyūbi-sama, you little-** "The Kyūbi was also cut short.

" **SILENCE! Enough of your petty quarrels** " Naruto swore; The Kyūbi flinched. " **To keep you quiet I have decided to tell a tale. A tale of blood and servitude, a tale-** "

" **Alright, alright we get it. Yikes, get along with it already.** " The Kyūbi butted in, rudely.

" **Would you like me to kill you?"** R-H asked politely and The Kyūbi blanched

"AAAGHHHHH" Naruto screamed out, interrupting R-H yet again. "AAAAAGGGG **GGHHHHHHHH** " R-H would have scolded him if not for the demonic and painful tone added to his tone.

" **Wh-What's Happening To Me"** Naruto's voice rang out, strained.

" **Naruto don't fight it, let it-** "Those were the last words Naruto heard before he was enveloped by a black bubble.

" **Naruto's memories of last night are being released** " The Kyūbi explained to no one on particular.

\- (In The Flashback Bubble) -

 _'Where am I?'_

" **Oh I assure you it's real** " Naruto turned his head to the origin of the voice and gasped.

It was him.

Him, in a dark violet cloak with the hood on and an hourglass chain necklace. The cloak ended beyond his feet, was longer than him and had tattered edges. The cloak's sleeves ended at the elbow and were wider than his arm. His forearms were covered by elbow-length gloves that covered only his middle and index finger. The gloves were black and had red lines running through it like blood to form a series of arcane symbols on the back of his palm going upwards; being different for each hand. His uncovered fingers looked pale and boney. His wrists were covered by metal bracelets with chains attached to them.

His right hand clutched a scythe; the scythe's body seemed to be made of bone with the top part looking like a rib cage connected to a skull behind the blade; the skeleton head/skull of some type of demon/dragon hybrid. The blade was as big as Naruto himself; if not bigger. The whole scythe was purple black and the blade had glowing red runes on it. The scythe's end had a short chain attached to it. The handle was curved and twisted and longer than Naruto was tall.

His left hand clutched a flaming skull which grinned all the time showing its abnormal number of sharp teeth – fangs if you may; its eyes were hollow and seemed to suck your soul out.(2)

His whole attire radiated death, but the thing that made even the most experienced ANBU there shit his pants was the psychotic grin that crawled its way across the visible part of Naruto's mouth, even entering the shadowed parts of his hood. That and the blood red moon behind him.

For a second Naruto and his… death self locked eyes. Naruto gasped as his d-self charged straight at him… then through him.

Naruto turned quickly and saw the back of his d-self's cloak; It had the Kanji for cycle drawn into it, with the kanji for death at the bottom-left corner and one for life at the top- right corner.

He then realized he was in the air and his d-self was diving straight towards his… their torturers, the scythe held in both hands now in the position to deliver a diagonal swipe. The skull had vanished or he couldn't locate it anymore.

He let the scythe swing, releasing a wave of… something dark violet; felt like death untainted.

The released death wave – which sounded like high pitched screams – crashed into the ground with the force of a mini explosion.

Naruto noticed the screams created by the wave matched those made by its victims.

But D-self didn't stop there; he crouched and twirled the scythe above his crouched figure causing a circular wave to spread. This wave didn't have the explosive force of its predecessor but made up with three times more cutting power. The wave punished the ANBU, and others, who did not get their bearings in time, slicing them in half. The other ANBU who were quick enough dodged the wave and even managed to save some of the others.

D-Naruto growled in irritation, then…

" **Argh! What the effing fuck.** " A stray Kunai had lodged itself in his chest, or at least where it (his chest) was supposed to be.

D-Naruto pulled the kunai out of his…chest; dripping with a blackish fluid, which he promptly licked off. He then located the kunai's launcher. He then grinned at the unfortunate chunin and proceeded to gut him like a fish; Poor, unfortunate sod. But there was no time to mourn for the dead bastard; D-Naruto was on a rampage.

" **Nyahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha** " D-Naruto cackled like a mad man whilst splitting joints, dismembering people, tearing limbs and/or also removing heads.

In spite of all this… bloodshed, the real Naruto was in deep thought.

" _I shouldn't be happy about this, I shouldn't be content. What the fuck is wrong with me._ " Naruto was then bombarded with memories of his recent torture period and his life at the hands of the villagers; their evil, neglecting, revolting hands.

" _No, No… I should be happy, they should pay_ " And as if on cue D-Naruto laughed manically and paused

Naruto's bubble then started to move towards his rampaging other; as if to merge with him. Naruto hesitated. Did he really want to become this killer...? Finally he decided.

"This is me now; I am no longer their tool…" The bubble started to merge with D-Naruto.

" **I. Am.** Their **/Your. Death!"** The merge was complete.

Naruto saw perfectly through his eyes; although they were hidden behind the cloak. He could see their… souls.

He sensed so much: Their heartbeats, rats fighting over a piece of fish twenty meters away, the sounds of the festival.

He felt…oh he felt good.

In the midst of this chaos, this massacre, this…this bloodbath!

D…Naruto's grin then climbed higher into the recesses of his hood. He charged at the closest person who happened to be the person who had kept him awake with the lightning jutsu.

"Mercy, mercy! Please I'll give you anything. Pleeaa-aaaaaaaaaaaghhh" The flaming skull appeared right in front of the man and started to suck. A grey flame like…figure was drawn out of the man through his nostrils. The man squirmed for a few seconds then started to droop. Naruto sliced through the figure; the scythe tainting the part it touched. He then pushed half of the man's soul back into him and gave the other part to the flaming skull; not before taking a piece out.

What he did next disgusted and terrified the survivors: He ate the piece; chewing then swallowing.

The man with half a soul then screamed as his soul entered his body. His bloodshot eyes snapping open, his figure becoming ramrod straight.

" **Oh no, no, no, you don't get to die. Death is a luxury to you right now.** "

"Wh-What di-did… do me?" The suffering man squeezed out.

" **Excuse me… Oh what did I do to you… ah yes I removed half of your soul, 'tributed' a part and I digested a small bit** " Naruto said as if it was nothing " **Hmm… your name is Denryu-kei Watto… somehow you have a very developed lightning affinity…** " Naruto seemed to pause in thought; his face twisted as if having a bad taste in his mouth " **Hmm… the only memories of your parents are of them being… oh what do we have here… a very elaborate mental barrier not put up by you.** " Naruto said this whilst slicing at the furious ninjas attacking him for hurting their friend.

"I cannot allow you to do that" A very persistent Shinobi spoke calmly. Naruto's eyes narrowed behind his hood.

' _ **It would seem Watty is part of a… conspiracy… hehehehehehehehe… this is so fun**_ _._ ' Insane thoughts, twisted schemes and mad ideas filled his head.

" **OK!** " Naruto then slammed his scythe's tip into the ground crating a shockwave of sorts to spread out demobilizing all within its range. " **Watto, my boy, how about I make you a deal?** "

"De… deal wha…?!" Watto was cut off by the persistent Shinobi rushing to Naruto to impale Naruto. Too bad he never got there.

" **If you help me I'll… help you.** " Naruto said as he flicked the Shinobi's parts off his scythe's blade. Watto could have sworn his saw the scythe glow for a while. " **But for now… sleep** " Watto felt sweet sleep claim him from his pain as Naruto's fist collided with his face; then he screamed in his sleep. " **What, did you think I would forget about your acts…** **I'm being generous to you… All of you will pay… ALL OF YOU!** " Naruto's voice started to distort at the end of his speech.

' _ **All. Of. You**_ _'_

\- (Camera pans to the sky as multiple screams are heard) -  
\- (Chapter End) -

Done.  
Sorry for the long wait.

Legend:

1: I was getting tired of saying Reaper Hime soo…

2: I won't describe him again till he gets an upgrade of some sort.

Please alert me to any mistakes and in the words of many fan-authors "constructive criticism is appreciated"

Till next time. Ja Ne


	3. Chapter 3: L, R & S

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto but one day… one day.

Normal speech: "Pathetic"

Normal thinking: ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation): Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Expressions/Sound Effects: *Wham*

Scene change/POV change: - () -

A/N: The third chapter in this bloody awesome series. Hope you like it.  
On another note; Naruto in my story will either be **insanely** _serious_ or _seriously_ **insane** or both. I could make it work.  
On the third note; Naruto becomes really powerful during but of course not without training his ass off.  
Version 2: Okay this is another update removing certain cheesy stuff and reflecting on the personalities better.  
Warnings: Story contains a varying amount of violence, gore, and a lot of minor abuse and 'language' and is not suitable for light hearted.

\- (Chapter 3: Learning, Recollecting and Seals) -

"Nnnnnnnnnnnnn" This was the sound made by our main character as he woke from his flashback induced state. His first thoughts,

" _Owwwwwwww, my head aches… again._ "

" **Welcome to the present… will you come in now** " Naruto then felt the pull and found himself in his mindscape; technically it should be his belly-scape; since the seal is located there…

But I digress.

This time Naruto found himself in the room and there was a lot of light.

"Aaarrrggghhhh, my eyes, my eyes are burning" Naruto screamed.

" **Oh put a cork in it, it's your mindscape** " Returned the Kyūbi's harsh reply.

The Kyūbi gaped as a large cork appeared out of nowhere and attempted to plug the light source, " **I wasn't… it wasn't… ahh how the…** " The Kyūbi was at a loss for words. **"You know what I don't even want to know** "

" **Impressive, young one… very impressive."** Another voice rang out from the room, voicing its approval. **"** _ **It appears his mental prowess and his imaginations are at their peak at times, looking at the attention to detail on that thing; I can only imagine what he will be capable of if he is trained to harness**_ _ **that power**_ _ **.**_ **"** She licked her lips in excitement.

"Oh… Thanks miss… hehe" Naruto said scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

" **Oh come now young one, there is no cause for embarrassment. One would think you've never been…"** R-H pauses, **"Young one, have you never been complimented before?"**

Cue Naruto's head shaking sheepishly.

R-H seemed downright surprised and whispered something along the lines of, wonders that must do for self-esteem. She paused, and then started to repeat her last word over and over again.

Then, " **OK, That makes sense "** R-H realized something. She then whispered something into the Kyūbi's ear. The Kyūbi's eyes narrowed, then nodded and then discreetly started to position some tails at specific points.

" **Naruto!"** He looked up **"Naruto, you are a fair, street-smart, inventive boy who has the most potential I've seen and as a show of trust I'll tell you something... I-"** Naruto eyes widened as tears started to form in his eyes; at least this was someone who paid attention to him. He felt she held him high in her mind. He also felt as if he was flying and he was above all those other negative comments. Till…

"I see why the villagers degrade you in their conversations." A voice rang out mimicking R-H's own although it didn't quite catch her tone fully; Naruto was too discomposed to catch the slip up.

He looked up and asked... "Why?"

Then the walls of his mindscape started to crumble; only slowed by the Kyūbi's well placed tails, and the whole place began to shake as if caused by an earthquake of magnitude 5.2 and rising.

" _Why it's because she's just like all the villagers. Listen to only me: This is all a façade…"_ The voice went on and on; thus reducing his temporarily high self-esteem to levels matching those of really depressed people.

" **Naruto!"** R-H growled trying to get his attention but it seemed he was too far gone. _**"Interference be damned, I was right; Seals."**_ She then looked at the Kyūbi and started to say something before the Kyūbi interrupted her.

" **Just go help the monkey before it's too late."** R-H nodded then jumped on one the great swishing tails of the Kyūbi, ran across the back to the snout and launched herself towards or rather out of the cage.

After landing she started to send out pulses of… purple colored essence. After a number of pulses she looked up and located the air distortions happening over a small part of a wall. Her eyes narrowed as she jumped to it. She nailed a perfect landing on what seemed to be a force field. She crouched and made a motion to punch but before she could she was held back by a tentacle of sorts coming from Naruto's body. She let the tentacle pull her whole body to the floor.

At first this act seemed to be catastrophic for R-H till she twisted in mid-air and landed on her feet; which would not be expected to happen since she was falling facing back – showing a high amount of agility and flexibility. She then wrenched her hand from the tentacle's tight grip. She then proceeds to charge at Naruto's wailing chakra-covered form; intending to knock him out.

\- (In The Kyūbi's Cage) -

" **Grahhh!"** It seemed the Kyūbi was having trouble holding the place together as the tails pushing against the wall were constantly under strain; a great feat on the walls part considering the strength of the tsunami causing limbs/tails. _**"Damn it, if only I had my other part. Damn**_ _ **That Fool!"**_ the Kyūbi seeing it fit, accentuated this thought with a chakra-shockwave; this being the only thing allowed to pass through the bars then collapsed; putting all hope in R-H. A vulpine grin appeared the face of the Kyūbi as a distinct *WHAM* was heard.

\- (With R-H Prior To Shockwave) -

R-H was frustrated; getting to Naruto was a bit more difficult then she'd expected it to be. Those repulsive tentacles were really really really grating on her nerves.

*Whoosh* another tentacle shot past her head making her feel the force and leaving an irritating sound in her ears.

*WHOOSH! WHOOSH! SLAP!* that last sound was her hair lashing against a piece of rubble thrown at her by those irritating tentacles.

" _ **OK then, let's take this up a notch shall we?"**_ Her already long hair lengthened and whipped wildly, slapping the tentacles that got to close as she started to maneuver her way around the falling boulders and flying rocks.

She then felt a force push behind her. Looking behind her person she smirked at what she saw. R-H then proceeded to use her hair to envelop her person whilst jumping back. The rest was left to the shockwave's force as the hair made a sleek, oval shell.

In the 'eyes' of the seal this wasn't good and it made use of Naruto to send more tentacles and throw more rubble at the approaching wave. This was in vain of course as each tentacle and piece of rubble was shredded on contact. If it really had eyes they would have widened; for R-H had unwrapped with a very hollow expression on her face.

*WHAM!* the sound of her fist slamming into Naruto's bowed head. Her expression softened as Naruto collapsed and the mindscape stabilized. But the seal would have none of this, it was master, it was controller, it was… scared? R-H was staring at it with bloody murder in her eyes.

It started slowly, the walk I mean;

First with the slow pace – Surprising how sexy that was – then she quickened; then started to run. Of course the seal tried to negotiate… then it tried to strengthen its protection… All of it in perfect vanity, of course. R-H was pounding away at the 'enforced' shields. Too bad it only took a few punches to completely shatter it like fragile glass. It then felt its paper expire and its existence fade away.

R-H gasped and ran towards Naruto's sunken form; she knelt by his side and cradled his head in her laps after positioning his body in a comfortable position. She then started to stroke his face calmly.

"K… Kaa-san?" Those words caused her expression to visibly soften.

" **I am not your mother Naruto… I could never take that title."** At his sad visage she added, **"You can call me Oba-chan… Now sleep** He complied.

\- (13 Hours Later- Naruto's bedroom) -

" _This is the third time but…"_

"Owwwwwwwwwww! This is the third- what the- F*CK!" Naruto exclaimed after his third headache. Then he heard R-H talking to him,

" **Watch your language young one and please eat something before-"** As If on cue his stomach growled loudly.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a bit" cue another growl, "-okay I'm a lot hungry." Naruto got up and made for the kitchen. When he arrived R-H was shocked at what Naruto saw(1); his mini-kitchen was… in a bad shape, a really bad shape; Powder, spices, glass bottles and cans all splayed on the floor most having spilled their contents.

"Looks like they were a bit lenient over here this time." Said Naruto as he maneuvered his way through the mess.

" **They do this to you every year?"** R-H asked calmly yet with a hint of surprise.

"Yep, but the tor… beating was new" Naruto chimed tiredly as he opened a locked compartment revealing a lot of food supplies that seemed to have been refilled lately – Naruto had taken a risk to hide his food- and was filled to the brim, spilling when he opened it(the counter).

Naruto sat at a table and released the content of his arms- he had packed some food cans there. He poured a tin of tomato soup into a large sized bowl and unsealed a pack of biscuits. He then proceeded to eat a meal of tomato soup and biscuits in an awkward silence.

He then remembered, "Hey Oba-san, I wanted to say I'm sorry for what I did."

R-H's face reddened slightly at the title and said, **"Don't worry about it my shin'ainaru oi(2), it wasn't your fault; it was on the part of the seal"**

"Seal… what are seals Kaa-san?"R-H nearly face faulted.

" **How do I put it…?"** She thought till the Kyūbi decided to butt in

" **Seals are intricate designs drawn on a surface to serve a special purpose: Such as the name implies, seal things. Seals can be used for many purposes such as, as I said, storing almost anything, releasing stored items at a certain speed, restricting movement sometimes even for heating objects. Seals can also be used for battle purposes."** At the Kyūbi's last sentenceNaruto's eyes widened.

R-H then added, **"If you're surprised at that then you would be thoroughly shocked to know that most seals are a watered down version of what we used in my time: Runes; and more shocked that your clan had the privilege of being the first to use these seals, Naruto** _ **Uzumaki**_ **."** She highlighted the last word.

"You Have Got To Teach Me About Seals!" Naruto exclaimed splattering food around the table.

" **Have patience oi-chan."** R-H then proceeded to advise Naruto on the importance of being a gentleman.

" **Naruto, you have to get an official sensei and due to the training time being limited you'll have to learn a jutsu specially reserved for ninjas with huge reserves. Its name is the** **Kage Bunshin (Shadow clone)(3)** **I'm shocked that monkey, Sarutobi didn't teach it to you"** Kurama said the last sentence sarcastically and spat the third Hokage's name out. **"The hand seals are…"**

After multiple tries, Naruto got it down to pat and could create multiple clones in one try.

"Wait, who's Sarutobi?" This time the Kyūbi facepalmed.

\- (One Hour Later) -

Now Naruto could create a hundred clones **exactly** with a single hand seal. He created 60 clones and gave them their orders:

Squad 1 assigned to stealing paper and ink for fūinjutsu (sealing technique) practice.

Squad 2 assigned to stealing foodstuffs with a list prepared by R-H as his malnourished body needed the right foods.

Squad 3 assigned to stealing books.

Squad 4 assigned to preparing food and taking care of Naruto's body whilst he meditated (fixed his mindscape); these clones were also specially fed with R-H's knowledge on cooking.

Squad 5 assigned to cleaning his apartment.

Squad 6 assigned to protection. For instance in the case of the Hokage coming to 'check up' on him they would act as him to delay him.

And so Naruto's training began as soon as he sat in the lotus position and took calming breaths.

"Hey Oba-sensei what were you going to tell me?"

" **My Name, its Vivien."**

\- (Chapter end) -

Done.

Again, sorry for the long wait.

Legend:  
1\. They share a minor link as she is not directly sealed

2\. Dear Nephew

3\. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Technique)  
Rank: B-rank  
Type: Ninjutsu  
Description: Similar to the basic Clone Technique, this technique creates copies of the user. However, these clones are corporeal instead of illusions. The user's chakra is evenly distributed among every clone, giving each clone an equal fraction of the user's overall power. The clones are capable of performing techniques on their own and can even bleed, but will usually disperse after hit by a strong enough force. The clones can also disperse on their own or be dispelled by the user of the technique. A characteristic that is unique to the Shadow Clone Technique is that any experience the clones gain during their existence is transferred to the user once they are dispersed. It's also useful for training purposes, since the total amount of experience the user gains is multiplied by the total number of clones being used to train. For example, if a user creates one shadow clone and trains together with this clone for one hour, then dispels the clone, the user gains two hours of training in one hour by adding the hours of clone and the user together.  
Additional Notes: Tasks which require great concentration restrict the number of usable clones, and changes in the nature of the original's chakra signature will cause the chakra of the clones to resonate similarly.

Really no mistake, is that why you're not commenting? Well if you have any suggestions feel free to send them my way, okay then.

Till next time Ja Ne!


	4. Chapter 4: V, E, T F & T A

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto so I challenge Masashi Kishimoto to a BumFight with shock gauntlets. "PAM, get ready to rumble!" He said in reference to the 'hit' series Archer.

Normal speech: "Pathetic"

Normal thinking: ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation): Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Expressions/Sound Effects: *Wham*

Scene change/POV change: - () -

 **A/N: This Author's Note is r-e-a-l-l-y important so pay close attention; that's I wrote it in bold.**

.

.

 **NAH! I got nuthin'…**. **  
Okay fine! One of my… others is in a very strong 'Sarutobi Hiruzen being manipulative' mood and I don't think I want to disagree. Oh yes; the above scene was just my** _ **S-T-R-O-N-G**_ **sense of humor, he said-  
Shut Up Voices!  
**

 **Version 2: Changed some inconsistencies, altered the flow, I think you'll like it better now.**

 **Ok onto the next chapter.**

\- (Chapter 4: Voices, Exploration, Training Flashbacks… and The Academy?) -

"One thousand, nine hundred and ninety…, One thousand, nine thousand and ninety-one…, One thousand, one hundred and ninety-two…, One thousand, nine thousand… and ninety-nine…," this was followed by a low groan; probably from near-exhaustion, then the counting continued, "Nineteen, ninety-four…, Nineteen, ninety-five…, Nineteen, ninety-six…, Nineteen-ninety-eight-"

This caused a loud feminine to shout out, " **You do know I can hear you right? Naruto."**

"Gomen'nasai(1), gomen Oba-sensei, Ninety, ninety-seven… hehe" The counting voice – now identified as Naruto – replied quickly, adding a low, nervous chuckle at the end; he was praying that his 'evil Aunt' would not add another hundred (she did).

A hundred what you ask?

A hundred handstand push-ups!

But is he not a little kid you ask?

Little kid, pfft! I reply he was able to stand the beatings of an organized mob and does have a huge load of stamina, energy, chakra; whatever you call it; which he is gradually building.

Talking of building(s) let's take a look into his mindscape shall we.

\- (Naruto's Mindscape) -

At the entrance there is the same huge gate/door, if one was to open it they would see a simple (it looked simple) steel wall covering the length and width of the passageway; this steel wall also had a smooth square-shaped metal pad on it bottom-left side. Upon touching the wall it would release a mild current of electricity into the invader's body; the shock served as a deterrent to the invader. If the invader is stupid-or persistent-enough and punches the wall it would release a shockwave equaling ten times the force used to touch the wall. The only possible way – apart from having Naruto accompanying – to enter is to have a stronger level of mind-power; enough to break through the steel wall.

But Naruto was smart enough -that and his aunt had beaten the concept of always expecting something to be stronger than him- to always prepare another trap, another bump, a failsafe. This was in the form of a very intricate maze that changed paths every three hours; and the only way was with what Naruto called a 'Tracker Map'. The device used pre-placed checkpoints to calculate the most accessible route to the end. In good show of sportsmanship, he had hidden this 'Tracker Map' somewhere in the maze. But of course what kind of trap would it be without more goodies inside of it.

These so called goodies were in the form of techno-organic creatures, Naruto called 'grievers'. The grievers were spider-like creatures but were not as huge as one would think and were what Naruto would like to call model size. The grievers were fully operational with blades for hands and also – unfortunately for the invader if I might add – contained these checkpoints and one had to have one of them (checkpoints) to operate the map. It was a very ingenious system of placing as the grievers moved with the maze; a sort of sixth sense. Naruto was also planning on using a special virus to hinder the neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine or even GABA thereby shutting down the parts they keep active (His aunt had really trained and read on these things and was now transferring that knowledge to him).

If by any chance the invader managed to get through the maze by finding a tracker map, disabling a griever and going through all the obstacles (really slim chance of that happening though) there would be another steel wall and I'm guessing you already know what that's for. Get through the door and the invader would be greeted by Vivien herself in an enclosed space; a chamber of sorts.

But I've already told you too much and so let's go through the huge door legally shall we. As we enter we see a grassy plain spreading miles and miles in every direction complete with a pond and little foxes running around. There are also lots of dark clouds in the sky negating/disrupting the cheeriness and bright fairytale land image you have in your head; although it is not that gloomy or cheerful just in-between.

What catches our sights the most is the humongous tree in the middle of the plains. Its roots were twisting in every possible way bulging out from the ground but some still hidden. We assume it is his chakra pathways or Tenketsu(2) only larger and we can only guess what is inside the tree seems hollow like a… Anyways walking to our extreme left we get to the edge of the grass plains which seems to be on something like a half globe/island in the sky. Under the grass plain island are roots going into a huge pool of some liquid (or close). Something catches our attention: it is a huge and long bridge connecting to another island this island seemed far bigger than the first one and that is an almost unbelievable sight or statement.

This island has a gloomier feel over it – like death or close – and had storm clouds over it. On the island was a huge semi-medieval castle in pristine condition. But as too what is in the castle will have to wait as any attempt to travel the bridge resulted in casualties caused by roaming spirits and suits of armors in motion. We can hear multiple voices from the castle:

" **He-lp me!"**

" **Save Ussss!"**

" ***MOAN!*"**

" **WHY ME?!"**

" **I FORGOT TO TURN OFF MY STOVE!"**

Ok enough of the gloomy stuff let's get to the right side of the grass plain island. Over there we see another bridge connecting a comparatively smaller island with a normal five story building (although construction seems to be going on) on it. The letters _'A R Y'_ are on a signboard attached to the building showing that it is not complete.

At the entrance we see –through a slightly opened door- many chibi-narutos running around sorting books and reading them. To our left we see a librarian-Naruto sitting at a semi circle shaped counter/desk also reading a book. To our immediate right we see a stairway leading to the next floor. As we go further there is fixed sign that says A-D indicating the books currently on this floor; going further there are three steps leading downwards. There is a huge room after the door: the room looks like a classical library with shelves at the wall with many rows and three or four columns in them and there are tables and benches in the free area(3). The book shelves are lacking a lot and the tables have glow lamps on them.

We come out of the library and cross the bridge back to the grass plains and on our way we notice this island does not have any roots or any tubes like the grass plains and castle islands (respectively) going into the wide gigantic pool under the islands: instead it has a makeshift satellite dish or antenna of sorts probably for broadcasting information.

We go back to the normal world where there are no floating islands and find ourselves back in Naruto's room.

\- (The Real World: Naruto's Room) -

Naruto is now leaving the room and going to an unknown (to us) room. The building he is moving around in seems derelict or at least this floor does. He enters the room and there is a huge makeshift-Dojo in it near completion. The dojo looks like a cross between a traditional Japanese dojo and a boxer's training room with faux-punching bags of different sorts at one side, crude wooden weapons at another, stolen mannequins at yet another and a huge ring in the middle.

Naruto had been told of the eighteen skills used by ninja in his aunt's time when chakra was not prominent at all prompting him to think his aunt was very old and had _Seishinteki kyōyō_ or spiritual refinement and his intonjutsu down to pat:

 **Intonjutsu** (隠遁術 lit. Kanji for "disappearing technique") is the ninja art of "disappearing" and has many walking and stealth techniques.[1] It also comprises wilderness survival, field craft, and Shinobi-aruki (silent movement steps and leaps). This he trained by escaping multiple chunin and even some jonin sent to capture him and also by performing his pranks undetected – although his field-craft was lacking a bit.

Currently he was training in taijutsu. **Taijutsu** (体術, literally "body technique" or "body skill") is a blanket term for any combat skill, technique or system of martial art using body movements that are described as an empty-hand combat skill or system. He was currently performing some Karate katas trying to maintain perfect form while stepping and turning. Naruto was very eager to finish this set and move onto the next due to a promise of a surprise from his mom.

Halfway through the second set he started to reminisce about the past days since the seal incident. It helped him pass the time as he trained.

\- (Start Memory Train) -

" _Oyabun(Boss) the old man is here to see you we managed to hold him off and we made sure to not make him know you know any jutsu."_

" _Two weeks… TWO Fucking weeks is how long he takes?!"_

" _ **Calm down Oi, I know you don't like it but you'll have to put on your emotional mask like I thought you."**_

" _*Sigh* Yes I guess so." Naruto's face then went through a series of emotions before looking cheery._

\- (Next) -

" _ **Naruto, Get your rear back here and finish!"**_

" _But Oba-Sensei it's boring to just sit at one place and focus" yelled a fleeing Naruto. Fleeing till he was tripped by a well placed furry tail. This of course caused his aunt/teacher to catch up (not that she was running at full speed)._

" _ **Yes and boring or not,"**_ _she grabbed Naruto_ _ **"You have to do it!"**_ _and proceeded to throw him into a circle where he had been running from._

 _\- (Next) -_

" _ **Ok Naruto tell me about yourself something you like a lot – apart from cooking."**_

" _I guess I would love to do that thing that I saw those villagers doing some time ago. I think they called it 'parkour' yeah…" He had a passive look on his face, "I love the feel of the air on my face. The stunts performed whilst, climbing buildings, over structures would be a good substitute for standing on top of this building." Naruto finished with a dreamy look on his face. Being lost with his head in the clouds Naruto failed to see his aunt remove her cloak with a smirk replacing the normally present thin line._

 _*Thump* the sound of the cloak hitting the floor kicked Naruto back into reality and made him look in the direction of the sound; he blushed. His aunt was standing there a full bodysuit that hugged her figure like a second skin (perverted bodysuit). The body suit was black with purple lines running through them and had dark violet guards on her shins and forearms. She also had dark violet combat boots and a half mask that cover her neck and ended directly above her upper lip(_ _4)_ _(although it wasn't drawn yet). Although all this is not the reason he was blushing; no Naruto was blushing due to the sight of his aunt's breasts which defied gravity and her toned body._

" _ **Then my dear obi let's see who's better. Give me 25% control over the place."**_

" _But Oba-sensei… you do remember what happened last time I gave you more than 15%, don't you?"_

 _Yes that little incident was still fresh in everyone's mind as it involved Vivien turning the place into a total literal 'shadow-land' before Naruto and the Kyuubi devised the 'Floating Isles'; creepy place that 'shadow-land'._

" _ **Just give me 20% then!"**_ _retorted Vivien as she held out her hand._

" _OK, OK here," he grabbed her hand and channeled something through the bond created by the two connecting hands and spontaneously another smaller island appeared behind the grass plain island (ah so that's what's behind the tree). Building started bursting up from the ground making the island look like bustling urban suburb complete with chibi-Narutos running around acting like normal civilians._

 _Instantly the two were transported to a starting point at the designated start point. The two planned a suitable path through the suburb island._ _ **"Ok then the free runner with the most points at the end of the designated track wins."**_ _Vivien said as she stretched showing off her smooth six-pack toned mid-section and almost perfect legs from years of running which of course made Naruto go even redder. He enjoyed that day very much and although he didn't win he decided to take it out on the village; practicing it whilst pranking heavily and perfecting dangerous stunts._

 _\- (Next) -_

" _Oba-sensei w-what are birds and b-bees?" Naruto said making his aunt blush maybe for the first time and loud snore to come out from the Kyūbi's cage._

 _Safe to say Vivien was in a dilemma having to decide whether to be blunt or just corrupt the boy._ _ **"Where did you see this at Naruto?"**_

" _Well, I overheard some parent talking to their child whilst I was pranking them… but I didn't take the time to listen." He said embarrassed at the last fact than anything; as Vivien had warned him against being hesitant to gather information._

" _ **Naruto… there is a time when, you being human, you will have an urge to have something you humans call coitus and…"**_ _safe to say Vivien wasn't one to lie to children and it was also safe to say Naruto saw the world in a different light – what with his aunt pounding respect for women into him and also assuring to teach him something called seduction; whatever that was._

 _\- (Next) -_

" _ **Come on Naruto you can do it!"**_ _A voice called out as Naruto was currently putting together the foundations of his mindscape and banishing/imprisoning the lost souls he had 'accumulated'._

' _Yeah and this all your fault you just had to introduce those creepy souls into my mindscape!' Naruto of course did not dare voice or think his thoughts in fear his creepy aunt would notice._

 _\- (Next) -_

 _When his Aunt's mood changed again Naruto brought up a question, "Oba-sensei why are you always so 'serious at one time and moody the next?"_

" _ **It's just a part of my cur… ailment."**_ _If Naruto noticed the slip-up he didn't bring it up yet chose to say,_

" _Ailment?! You're not going to die are you Oba-san?" Naruto asked concerned._

' _ **Hm… I've done that already.'**_

 _\- (Mix) -_

 _Damn that demon for taking my parents! I promise Otou-san, Baa-san I will avenge you."_

 _\- (Mix) -_

" _Noooooo! Why me I'll kill that demon I swear it."_

 _\- (Mix) -_

" _So make sure to start a riot to distract the ANBU for your usual fee of Seven Thousand Ryo."_

" _Yes councilman-san!"_

 _\- (Mix) -_

" _Come on my fellows, glory awaits us!"_

 _\- (Mix) -_

" _DIE!"_

 _\- (Mix) -_

" _Kill the demon!"_

 _-_ \- (Back With Naruto- End Flashbacks) -

*GASP* Naruto lost concentration from the influx of memories not belonging to him. He had just completed his third set of Katas when they hit and right now he was kneeling on the ground panting, trying to make sense of his thoughts. His eyes started to droop and he felt like he was losing consciousness but before he fell into unconsciousness there were still two memories that pressed to make themselves known: a name and a touching moment.

 _\- (Mix) -_

" _You have your orders!" An unknown voice shouted out._

" _Hai!" One emotionless voice responded._

" _The leaves bathe in sunshine…" the unknown voice shouted out this time demanding an answer._

" _The roots support the tree. Hail Konohagakure, Hail Danzō-sama!" the same emotionless voice responded._

 _\- (Mix) -_

" _Ne Fur ball, why are you helping me anyways?" Naruto asked._

" _ **I have a feeling that I have to repay you in some way for the twelve years of shit I had a part in throwing at you"**_ _then added mentally,_ _ **'That and your aunt is a real powerful bitch'**_

\- (Next Day) -

Naruto is asleep on his bed having been placed there by his clones after his blackout. Till,

" **Naruto wake the fuck up if you want to learn chakra control you'll have to go to the Ninja Academy or whatever you ningen call it!"** the Kyūbi made itself known by waking him up.

"Ok, ok I'm up, leave me alone already." Naruto responded after falling out of bed. He then went through his new daily routine (His aunt then started to throw random scenarios at him);

Make his bed ( **You are in a field with two kunai and a smoke bomb low on chakra reserves and facing five enemies, defeat them.** );

Do the warm ups the a fifty pushups ( **You are currently under the effects of zimovlane, a sleep drug, and you are at the coast with enemies pursuing, lose them.** );

A hundred sit-ups ( **You have three Kunai and one meter of ninja wire in a forest, set a trap to slow your pursuers.** );

Two hundred handstand pushups ( **That is all for today, you've done well** );

And a few stretches, jumping jacks, the usual cool downs. Then he created two Kage Bunshins(Shadow clones) right before jumping into the bathroom; the clones had their orders prepare breakfast and pack a bento and get suitable clothing (A black t-shirt with an orange spiral sown into its back and black baggy pants complete with sandals) from the recently updated closet.

After eating his breakfast of instant ramen and diary milk he grabbed his bento and sped off to the Academy knowing the clones would lock up before dispelling.

\- (At The Academy) -

When Naruto arrived he wasn't winded in the least, which is saying something considering he took the longest route available.

He then hurried into his respective class and immediately spotted Shino, a friend of his, sitting at the back of the class.

Shino Aburame is one of the serious ninja aspirants in his class. He is quite intelligent and uses his analytical and observational skills to make shrewd decisions with pinpoint reasoning. . Most may say he is anti-social but that is not so because how else is he supposed to bond with others when he's labeled the creepy bug boy by the dumber academy students. Naruto still remembers the day they met.

\- (Memory Start) -

 _It was lunch break at the academy and all the first day students were eager to make new friends, Shino was not an exception and he was glad when some new guys approached him and asked him to join them._

 _Lunch was really going well for Shino till,_

" _Aagh there's a bug on my arm and I think it's coming from that freak in the jacket."_

 _All eyes turned to the jacket wearing boy and whispers started to be heard,_

" _What a freak!"_

" _How can he even live with all those bugs crawling on his skin?"_

" _I would totally kill myself if I was him."_

 _Needless to say Shino was out of the cafeteria and ran straight into an orange clad boy._

" _Whoa! I'm sorry man." the boy said fearfully._

" _No need to apologize the fault is mine" Shino replied thinking the fear was directed at his bugs but before he could leave the boy said,_

" _Oh no, my packed lunch is ruined!" Shino looked up and saw a sun-kissed blond with whisker marks on his face, his mouth a frown. Feeling bad for the boy, Shino offered him some of his._

" _Here, you can share mine"_

" _REALLY, ARIGATO…" The blond paused as he realized he did not know Shino's name._

" _Shino, Shino Aburame" Shino offered._

" _Arigato Shino! I'll repay you – dattebayo!" the blond said with a blinding grin._

 _So they sat under a huge tree and shared Shino's lunch._

Naruto remembered all the times he and Shino defended each other. After that Incident they became good – best even – friends; with Shino sometimes sharing lunches with Naruto and Naruto not minding about Shino's kikaichū.

They then slapped each other's hands slightly and nodded at each other when Naruto sat down and Naruto told tidbits about his new aunt. Shino felt happy for his friend already knowing about his harsh treatments at the hands off the villagers and also made a brief comment on Naruto's new clothes.

As the other students started to file in, Naruto saw another of his friends, one Mādokku Kōmori, approaching them. As Kōmori approached Naruto saw his attire and it consisted of a top hat and leather shoes; a black dress trousers with pouches on the thighs; a leather coat with a high collar and with a black dress shirt inside and topping it all of off were the dark sunglasses and white gloves in which were clutched a walking stick with engravings on its shaft.

Kōmori was born blind and as the heir to the Mādokku clan, a clan that utilizes trained bats as summons or partners. Most in the Mādokku clan are born with bad eyesight but with enhanced senses being able to 'see' through feeling vibrations or shifts in the air around or by seeing through their bat summons _or_ by employing high frequency ultrasonic waves namely Kōmori Seichū (Bat Controlling).

As Kōmori approached a random student stretched out his leg intending to trip the blind boy. Before Naruto could react Kōmori in an amazing show of agility flipped over the outstretched limb and landed on the other side unharmed. Komori then used his sticks end to hit the student on his head this caused Naruto to remember the first time they met.

\- (Memory Start) -

 _It was the first day of the second mid-trimester break at the Academy and Kōmori was taking a stroll in his clan compound and he heard the screams of a boy. Not being one with a stomach for abuse Kōmori rushed to the locations of the screams. Using his newly learnt echolocation he 'saw' what was going on: Some three teenagers from his clan had decided to test out a catapult on an orange-clad boy._

 _Rushing towards them, he gathered pebbles and flipped over the bullies and between them and the boy._

" _Look it's the little bat-boy ready to fight for the village outcast. How touching." one of them said, most likely the leader of the group._

 _Kōmori replied with a simple, "Outcast or not, you must not abuse your fellow villager."_

 _This was clearly funny for the bullies as they burst into laughter and the leader said, "Back down Kōmori we don't want to hurt you on behalf of that thing!" He threatened._

 _But Kōmori simply raised his hand and motioned for the bullies to come forth. The bullies rushed forward and one made to punch Kōmori but before he could do so he had a fistful of pebbles in his eye and felt a sharp pain lash across his cranium causing him to fall unconscious. The two goons seeing their leader's fall made to rush the diminutive boy but didn't expect the outstretched leg of Naruto causing them to fall and get injured. They slowly got up and met the waiting stick of Kōmori, seeing that they had no chance the bullies quickly dragged their leader away in defeat._

" _Thanks for helping me" Naruto said showing appreciation._

" _Oh you are still here?" Kōmori queried, "Most people flee from the Mādokku forests as fast as they can, but you… intrigue me." Naruto grinned at the statement although he didn't really understand what intrigue meant. So he rose in a handshake and Kōmori completed it forming another bond._

Kōmori then sat in the seat front of Shino and Naruto and took out a book on bats (Braille obviously) and started to read.

Five minutes later their first instructor stepped in and said, "Okay Class today we'll be learning on the Nidaime Hokage (Second Fire Shadow) Tobirama Senju! Now can anyone tell me anything about him?"

This caused some hands to go up, Naruto's head to repeatedly bang on the table and the Kyūbi to gape and stutter incoherently.

It was an unfruitful day to say the least and although there was no evidence, the Kyūbi was appalled at how low the academy standards had fallen; Vivien couldn't really compare it to anything.

" **W-was that the Academy or did you go somewhere else Naruto?"** was the Kyūbi's question as a way to make sense of everything. Suddenly it clicked and all the facts organized themselves causing the Kyūbi to cut off the Mental Conversation Link to Naruto and say something to Vivien.

Finally they came to a decision, **"Naruto you have to leave Konoha!"**

\- (Chapter End) -

WHEW! Longest chapter yet I promise to make them longer still.

Sorry about the late update I was creating a project for Fiction Press. Yh so…

1= Sorry (formal I think)

2= Chakra points lit. Pressure points

3= Think of the Monster University Library the one in which a scare game was held in.

4= Like Zabuza's mouth bandages just fabric

Ahem! The first chapter was basically the prologue and it talked about the awakening of the Kyuubi and Vivien hence allowing Naruto a glimpse into his future power.

And here is my newest OC (both original character and clan) Mādukko(Lit. Murdock) hehe; the bat user(s). More will be revealed later. By the way Kōmori means bat

Till next time. Reviews and suggestions are humbly accepted.

Ja Ne, see you next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5: T, G, E & M, T, W, H

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: I don't *sniff* I… Don't own Naruto! No references today, no humor (maybe a little)

Normal speech: "Pathetic"

Normal thinking: ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation): Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Expressions/Sound Effects: *Wham*

Scene change/POV change: - () -

A/N: My first flame… will be discussed after this bloody chapter. Enjoy.

\- (Chapter 5: The Great Escape and Meeting the War Hawk) -

" **Naruto, you have to leave Konoha!"**

That was the sentence ringing in Naruto's mind even after it had been said.

" **Naruto… are you OK?"** His surrogate mother's voice came but there was no response to her question leaving her worried albeit slightly.

" **Naru,"**

"I have to leave Konoha." Naruto's voice came quietly.

The Kyūbi thinking it a question said, " **Yes Naruto, they won't get you,"** The Kyūbi stopped when Vivien – who had caught the anger in her son's voice – waved signaling.

"HAVE TO!" Naruto screamed mentally.

Now many of you might be wondering where Naruto was as this internal argument was going on. The answer: It was way after school closing time and Naruto was just a lone figure in the twilight lightened Academy; or maybe the only still figure.

Now unbeknownst to Naruto, a short figure was suspiciously moving about the halls of the room and had not spotted or been spotted by Naruto. It looked like he (for the figure had the build of a stout man – not boy) was looking vigorously for something within the Academy.

The figure made to scale a wall but a soft grating sound gave him away and made Naruto's body go on auto-pilot – unfortunate for the sneaky figure.

As the figure moved up the wall Naruto's body appeared at it's (the wall) base and looked up at the man's posterior. The man, probably sensing something looked down to see… nothing; Naruto's body had disappeared.

The silence was deafening,

The mood eerie,

It was the proper setting for a late night murder.

Oh and Naruto was hungry.

The man finally reached his destination and jumped off the wall, landing on the ground with a light *thud*. He looked around but found nothing yet again except a creepy child's doll staring Right at Him.

Meanwhile,

The tension in Naruto's mind was reaching a level where it could have materialized or become sentient till,

" **Naruto, both of you stop it!"** The two arguing parties glared at the seemingly neutral individual who was not affected and stared back, unnerving them. **"I know your life has been hard Naruto but you just sometimes have to trust us – although annoying as the overgrown fur pillow here is – we want to just see you reach your full potential."** It was these words that made Naruto stumble for his. **"I know you hate it when it seems you are being controlled but just think of it as guidance."**

"J…Just remember I don't… I don't…"

" **Heads Up Naruto!"**

\- (Back in the Real World) -

The short figure was seriously considering aborting the carefully planned mission; what was it with the dolls and the eerie presence behind him. He, in his frightened state, threw a shuriken at the nearest dark corner where a noise emerged.

As the shuriken was about to impact and embed itself in Naruto's arm he took over and swerved by bending/bowing backwards (or by going limbo). The kunai hit the wall with a dull *clink*

Just as the figure relaxed and gave a sigh of relief did the darkness around him seem to creep closer. Every step he took the shadows would follow him,

He turns back… nothing.

He moves left… and they follow.

He moves right… and they still follow.

Soon the man realized something was coming for him, something dark and something hungry.

Now as said before Naruto was hungry or rather his mother had influenced him to eat for her nutrition. Imaginary food was good and all but she was a living – damned or not – soul and needed sustenance in the form of soul essence, of course.

The man now started to move at a quicker pace – suspicious, not aware, of the semi-sentient shadows behind him, hoping they would eventually stop; but they kept moving. The man broke out into a full paced sprint going surprisingly faster than someone of his stature. Finally he reached his destination on the second floor (A.K.A The Teacher's Floor): the head's office and shut the door firmly.

As soon as he entered, did he place himself on the door keeping it shut and giving him a solid surface to lean on. He quickly locked the locks and barricaded the door. In his sense of security he fell onto the floor and started to heave and pant as if out of breath; unaware of the shadows creeping into the room from the space at the bottom of the door.

When he finally got up he started to look for something in the file cabinet in the immediate room. The man in his un-graceful rush scattered all the other files he had glanced through. Not finding what he was looking for he kicked over the file cabinet he was rummaging through allowing a small card to fall out of a slot beneath it. Seeing the card he read it and realized what he had done wrong.

You see, in order to obtain the file cabinet you were looking for you had to have a special key (card). The card acted as an organizing/retrieval medium. You first inscribed a year/details of operation on the card and charged it with chakra (1) and inserted it into the designated port. The card would then, activating a series of seals and mechanisms combined, pull your desired cabinet from the 'Records Room' (RR).

So now the man pulled out a dagger and carved a set of information onto the card then charged chakra into the card making it glow slightly; showing that the man had standard Shinobi training. The man grudgingly walked to a door at the corner of the room and inserted the card into a slot. As the man waited, he failed to notice the ever creeping darkness.

The window repeatedly slammed shut and blew open; the curtains billowing wildly yet the breeze was calm.

The man jumped and spun on his heel to face the window. Slowly and steadily he approached it.

When the man reached the window the abnormal movements, of the window, had ceased. The man thought about how weird it was as he turned to travel back to the door – the RR's door.

The man let out a panicked gasp at what he saw after his 180˚ turn was completed: A still figure encroached in the voluminous and malevolent shadows. The figure's hair shadowed his eyes but his glowing red pupils were barely hidden. The figure also further aggravated the tension in the room with his absolute stillness – unlike his intended target that was currently trembling in a state of shock. But what really drove all sanity out the window was that _INSANE_ grin of his. The grin really looked painful – honestly – but he (the figure) just kept it on, even if it went through the recesses of his shadowed upper face.

Naruto was snapped out of his – badly, self-termed - 'Devouring Stare' by his mother's voice, **"Now Naruto… Give me Sustenance! Before he goes insane like the last one."**

"Yes, **Mother dearest."** Then tendrils of living darkness shot out of the dark cloud.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR –gurk-gurk-guh!" The man's screams were silenced by the literal absorption of his painfully digested biomass, to become bio-energy to give Naruto nourishment. His soul, you ask? Painfully transferred to Naruto's semi-poorly filled soul chamber (his mother's castle) and was accepted by Naruto's mother, almost too eagerly.

\- (Twenty Minutes Later) -

 ***BELCH*!**

" **Naruto, what have I said about burping after meals?"**

" **Not** to, gomennasai Kaa-sensei I got carried…" Naruto paused for a yet unknown reason then continued, "Hey… Fur-ball, be useful and run those memories by me again." He entered his mindscape after sitting on his bed.

" ***Grr* Stupid Flesh bags… this fur is synthetic from pure chakra tinted with negativity!"**

" **Shut up and do it… you irritating, pompous, shape-shifting fur pillow!"** It seemed the mother had taken to insulting the poor monster after her son.

\- (Mini-Flashback) - (Previous Night) - (Mysterious Man's memories) - (sTaRt) -

" _Li-yang, the scroll on this table contains all the information on your next operation cum safe-house. Use it wisely and wait patiently and you will successfully complete this mission."_

" _*HARUMPH*, another job?, and the targets name is?"_

" _Uzumaki Naruto and that is all. The leaf must keep the tree alive with the aid of the sun…"_

"… _No matter how scorching its glare is!"_

\- (End Flashback) -

"…"

"…"

"…"

" **Naruto do you understand what this means?"**

"I know right, every secret organization has crappy mottos." Snickering came from the Kyūbi as Naruto was smacked with a migraine courtesy of his mother.

" **Is there end to this endless torture?!"** Vivien half-cried out in exasperation. **"Naruto, if there was any doubt in my mind, it's cleared now. I fully agree with Fur pillow that you need to leave."**

" **See, see… I said it but did you listen?"**

" **Shut up!"** / "Shut Up!"

" ***Grrrrrrrr*"**

Away from the conversation, a light bulb flickered on Naruto's head

"Kaa-sensei… The other man in the memories he mentioned a safe-house did he not?"

" **I do not approve of you asking** _ **me**_ **the obvious!"** She scolded.

But Naruto was deep in thought in his private mind chamber. "Safe-house… Secret… Helpful… Why?... Supplies! We need supplies… memories… to do… and…" He paused and started to mutter noiselessly.

" **Both of you… SHUT UP!"** His mother and the Kyūbi stopped arguing and looked at him - one in annoyance, the other in quiet amusement (already planning his punishment) - both in anticipation due to Naruto's demonic tone, **"I'm trying to think… Kyūbi… stop thinking or talking,"** The Kyūbi looked around in bewilderment **"It lowers the I.Q of the entire street."** The last part was muttered.

"Yūreka…" He realized they didn't get him so he added, "Don't you see…?" And yet again "Oh, I can't imagine how boring it must be with those minds of yours."

Ten minutes later, the Kyūbi was snickering as Naruto's left ear was throbbing and swollen with pinch marks all over it, his right eye was purple and swollen and his arm was in a bloody cast. A few meters away his mother was breathing slowly, calming herself.

"Ash ah wash shayin'," *SLAP* surprisingly the slap corrected his speech pattern. "As I was saying, the safe-house will aid in our escape attempt."

" **Attempt?"** His mother queried.

"Yes mother, attempt. You see I have an ulterior motive…" And the verbal communication went mute.

\- (Two Days Later) -

"AHA! Found it..." After a long search Naruto had found the safe house which was really well hidden. In the house there were only two rooms, although capacious enough to hold a lot of supplies. The first room was immediately entered after entering through the visible front door. It contained a white mini-fridge which was probably filled to the brim with ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook products at the farthest corner to the left. To the direct right were a well made-up bed and a small table. Other things in the room included a stove, a small TV and some cabinets. All in all it was a simple room.

But! Through the next door, well hidden, only accessible by a key in the scroll he had found on the table besides the bed. Opening the door, Naruto saw a sight that amazed him; the room itself had six walls and was completely spare with blank white walls. But wasn't it said something amazed him? Rightly so, it seemed in the middle of the room was a gaping hole that seemed to suck all light into it.

Seeing no other alternative, he jumped straight in.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

*THUD*!

A pained groan reverberated throughout… wherever Naruto landed as broken femurs and tibias where put back together.

Feeling out Naruto found a switch, five actually, on a wall to his immediate left. He turned on the first and nothing happened.

Second, nothing happened.

Third, still nothing happened.

Naruto was getting aggravated when he remembered the scroll talked about music…

One, Three, Two, One,

Two, Four, Three, Two,

Three, Five, Four, Three,

After finishing the last sets of piano-note set password/patterns, there was a beep, long and irritating and the lights went on.

Naruto had never seen so many shelves and crates in his life before. He was sure the crates were filled with either suits, ninja wire, explosives, kunai, smoke pellets, medical supplies and general rations. The shelves were attached to the walls and were lined with rows and rows of kunai and senbon launchers, attachable grappling hook guns, clawed gauntlets, smoke and poison gas release rod with canisters and cases. The cases contained Tantō, specially crafted Sabers, Bō staffs, knuckle dusters and a number of other melee weapons. But no Scythes, Naruto craved a scythe of his own sometimes. Naruto wondered if someone could ever master the art of using all these weapons…

His exact thoughts being _"DAMN, I really doubt someone could master all these weapons in a lifespan… maybe that's why some people crave immortality,"_ He shrugged at the end and added _"But I'm honored all this for little old me, I feel tears in my eyes."_

" **So Naruto, what now?"** His mother queried.

"Now, we train… at least till they find out I ate one of their operatives, then the great escape BEGINS!"

\- (Two Weeks Later) -

A year ago if you had asked Naruto to participate in a Kunai throwing test you would have discovered his aim was shit. But now as he trained he became better, adding meaning to the statement practice makes perfect.

*THUD* he threw a kunai aiming to hit a wooden board hanging from a roof.

*THUD* *THUD* three shots in a row!

*THUD* *THUD*

*BOOM*! The explosion set the aimed kunai off its designated course caused debris to surge down the tunnel/shaft.

" **Naruto, they're here! They're finally here!"** The explosion was a sound that alerted all three of them that the time they had waited for so long had at last arrived.

Every clone had its prescribed duty and they followed them being wary of 'The Mother' as Vivien was being called. In no time Naruto had a custom black Kevlar-like body suit with red lines running throughout the body. The suit itself had many straps that held the various pouches containing things ranging from kunai to explosive tags.

His left hand had on it, a cloth wrapped clawed (retractable) gauntlet (2) equipped - on top - with a grappling hook gun and - below ending at the wrists - with two rods attached to small canisters lining his arm – one rod for poison release and the other inflammable, and cloudy, gas.

His shoes were also special – initially designed for ninja who had hard times climbing rough surfaces or walls. Basically the person in question charged chakra into his feet and the seals in the shoe took over the rest, releasing a small set of pins from the soles that were able to carry the full weight of a grown man. The shoe required a constant flow of chakra and so was kept in storage till it could be upgraded. Luckily for Naruto he was a jinchūriki and could easily supply it.

He pulled up his mask from his neck which, like his mother's, ended just below the nose. The clones surrounded him and within a minute or two all his pouches were safely attached and filled.

" **Naruto, they're coming down the shaft!"**

Naruto nodded to nobody in particular and run to the emergency exit but not before having his clones set up a nice little surprise, picking his backpack up and grabbing the custom-made map of Konohagakure's outskirts.

"Men, fan out and grab whoever's in here! Be wary of…" He was caught off guard by a loud *BOOM* which threw some of them back and burned a few.

\- (With Naruto) -

*Boom*

"Hmm, look at that, they received my gift. I do believe Shadow Clones ROCK!" Naruto exclaimed whilst sprinting out of the hidden base. Only to groan in frustration when he realized he was being tagged by two operatives who quickly alerted their compatriots who quickly followed.

He checked his pouch on the outside of his left hip and withdrew a smoke pellet and withdrew a spark-stone from the pouch underneath his left breast. He made to jump and spin whilst vertical and throw both items.

His attempt was partly successful; he managed to jump, spin and even throw the two items but the explosion created threw him off balance and made his shoulder blade hit the ground, hard.

He groaned as his vision fluttered between unclear and hazy but he was able to see some of his pursuers jump through the raging forest flame. He rose slowly and staggered with a silent groan as his body creaked and his body made crackling sounds as his shoulder blades were being pushed back into place.

He started to jog for a while then after the greatest of his wounds were he broke into a sprint. Soon he came to a huge tree with a signboard on it. Deciding he had enough of running he loaded a meter of a wire cartridge into the cable chamber and launched a steady stream of rope which fastened itself into the top part of the tree and pulled him towards it.

As soon as he reached the top, he could many miles away and around and the operative looked like moving speckles on the brown ground. The moving speckles started to move up the tree and Naruto groaned before taking out a senbon launcher and firing straight down at them repeatedly.

Most evaded the poison coated senbon but some were hit, got drowsy and fell of the tree to their immediate death. Naruto, seeing the progress of his pursuers, launched himself from the tree. He took a long time to reach the next tree and kept on jumping till he came to a clearing – probably a training ground. He again jumped but this time towards the ground and landed with a *thud*.

"FUCK! Oops I think I just alerted them to my position, got to move… Oh damn my leg!" This wasw Naruto's monologue as he tried to get up but found his legs non-operational.

Soon the operatives had circled around him yet his legs had healed at that time. Naruto staggered to his feet as the first person rushed towards him.

On impulse he thrust his gauntlet clad arm towards the arriving operative, impaling him.

The next person was defeated by a quick flurry of kicks and a kunai stab to his upper torso.

The third was pushed back, making him lose footing. The fourth and fifth jumped and performed an axe kick but were held back by Naruto pushing against their arriving kicks.

The next was able to land a hit onto the small of Naruto's back which caused him to stagger.

The next clobbered Naruto's head with a staff. Naruto lay on the ground unmoving for a while then he performed a hand-stand and flipped over the hand which was intending to grab him. The hand grabbed a flash-bang. The flash-bang grenade's searing white light temporarily blinded Naruto's aggressors giving him an opening to take a few of them down.

Now you might be wondering, why Naruto doesn't go into his scary, god-like reaper mode? The answer was simple – One, it wasn't an on-off switch thing – Two, it took a lot out of him – And three, he just didn't want to reveal that in case one of them escaped.

After a few more minutes of sneaky parries and tricky tactics, Naruto started to run out of space, these fighters weren't static – they adapted and Naruto was finding it extremely hard to concentrate.

*THUD* and Naruto's world was robbed of all light.

\- (AN Unknown Base – A Week After Escape Attempt) -

They had treated him badly and yet he would not die or give in.

He had received a lot of 'visitors' but he knew today would be special…

*HISSSSS* the doors slid open and a voice came at him, a voice trained and tested, "Hello Naruto, I don't believe we've met," Naruto grinned and looked up, "My name is Danzō, Danzō Shimura." A bandaged man was standing at the doorway.

\- (Chapter End) -

Ok so I don't know if I was rushing or not I really tried to put much effort into but it is a bit late and I'm tempted to fall asleep and post the story tomorrow but, MEH!

Originally this system was made to keep Civilians out of confidential case files, but after The Kyūbi attack the system went lax and the cards now do not have to be charged with chakra every time and Civilians, influential ones, can view student and some case files.

Oh and yes I did borrow from The great _SHERLOCK series._

Ok to address my flame;

1\. Ok sometimes you have to use clichés and besides I twisted it a little and if you had read ahead you would have realized they weren't normal villagers

2\. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Hold it right there buster, this isn't a re-watching the series fic this is an intende full blown dark fic where Naruto doesn't give a fuck about pleasing the villagers. So there!

3\. I never said the Civilian Council planned the mob beatings did I?

4\. Yet again you didn't read further did you? They used seals, the wonders!

5\. Not funny dude/dudette.

With that out of the way (Oh and I appreciate all my other reviewers I just don't normally do shoutouts) I would like to promote Kurama's Fan 108's fanfiction for all lovers of Naruto x one piece, where Naruto is powerful.

And also if you like those slowly unfolding Naruto horror stories please check out: Obviously I'm Not Original's story 'Dear Mr. Somebody'

With that also out of my way.

Ciao till next time.

Don't forget to point out my mistakes!


	6. Chapter 6: T J O H F

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: A statement declaring, not proof of non-ownership, but legalizing yourself for arrest; if, of course, it is illegal to modify a work.

Normal speech (Reversed in flashbacks): "Pathetic"

Normal thinking (Reversed in flashbacks): ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation): Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Expressions/Sound Effects: *Wham*

Scene change/POV change: - () -

A/N: I got nothing.

\- (Chapter 6: The Journal of His Friends) -

\- (Journal Entry – Sunday, 1st November ) -

I can't believe it… _He's_ gone… I can't believe _he's_ gone. I should have done something, but what… The man in the bandages took _him_ , he… he took _him_!

\- (Flashback) -

" _So… You tried to escape."_

" _Yep… it was awesome!"_

" _Till you were caught…"_

" _Yeah…" Naruto trailed off._

 _Chuckling was heard from Shino's other friend/adoptive brother: Torune_

" _Oh shut up!" Naruto said and they walked further into the Aburame grounds._

 _Soon they had reached a clearing surrounded by tall trees and they were on the borders of the Aburame clan grounds. Naruto heard a faint rustling in the trees and his nose picked up a familiar scent; it made him uneasy – not for his safety but for Shino's and what's-his-name (Torune). Soon the rustling gave way to branches cracking and a figure emerged from the tall trees._

" _Oh what a pleasant surprise… It seems I was right Naruto we have met again," Naruto growled and the figure stepped into the bright light showing, in the full view of the three friends, his face – During their last splendid meeting where Danzō had shown Naruto… real torture, it seemed Danzō had prognosticated their latest meeting._

" _Danzō! I told you already, you don't come after my friends and we have a deal." Naruto barked furious at the figure._

" _You know this guy?" Shino was cut off by Naruto harsh reply,_

" _Not now Shino… Get out of here… Go Now!" Now Shino was getting confused – it wasn't everyday you see Naruto Uzumaki use his head instead of his fists to think (A.K.A – back out of a fight) – but if Naruto said it with such urgency in his voice, then he was considering it._

" _Oh, quiet Naruto for once I'm not interested in you. No I'm really interested in the Aburame there…" He pointed at Shino and Naruto bristled._

" _NO! I won't let you use him as a weapon, I won't allow you!" Now Naruto was forgetting his mother's teaching – to never let his emotions be clear to his opponents – but he felt that this was the right thing to do… Damn! There's definitely going to be hell to pay for that thought…. 'Right thing'… that's just embarrassing, anyways, "I will let you take me… right now, just swear you won't take him."_

" _I swear, Naruto…" Naruto walked slowly to Danzō and had Chakra Restraining Cuffs placed on his wrists. Soon after Naruto fell down unconscious. "Bakageta ko (1)… Now for you…"_

\- (Flashback End) -

I should have listened to him… but I wasn't taken; no, he took Torune after he took Naruto… I still don't know how I'm going to tell Kōmori… He's going to be really angry, not that I'm scared.

\- (Journal Entry – Monday, 2nd November ) -

Hello, again I really feel lonely right now and I just want to express my thoughts in you… Oh yes, Kiba is a (Baka is crossed out) Bitch, which is ironic because he is being trained to be the 'Alpha Male'. Why do I say this? He tried to pick on Kōmori and I tried to help but he had five goons with him and we got out with a few scratches.

School was boring as always but we started a bit of physicals – mainly sprinting and jumping around like immature children – but I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have if _he_ were here.

Mother suggested I make new friends but… I don't think I can. My mother is not well known in the village but she is well respected in the clan as the first Aburame whose kikaikchū are bonded with her Nature type.

\- (Journal Entry – Tuesday, 3rd November ) -

So this is the partner journal to the one Shino has been writing in, well I was originally going to vandalize the original but then linked these two (the original to this one) to learn Shino's secrets but I guess I will just confide in it too. _He_ wouldn't like us fighting… I really wanted to beat Shino up the day he told me but I could see he was not to blame – which is ironic because I cannot see in the way others do.

I would not normally say this but I (rip in page) that night. Mother said she understood my pain… she said her best and first friend had died in the Kyūbi attack… yes I know about the Kyūbi, Mother said it would be a dishonor to her friend if I did not know of her sacrifice…

Yes, we (not including _him-_ obviously) got attacked by Kiba and his goons yesterday but you already know that.

\- (Journal Entry – Thursday, 5th November ) -

I missed a day… sorry, because I was really loaded with Academy assignments… I keep wondering how knowing who the current Head of Village Finances is will help me in a fight; but because I know – his name is Kama-chi Tencho. He is a very short man but he is fat with a double chin and always is seen in a purple pinstripe suit, funny.

Today I was the main subject of the Daily Gossip Club – headed by the Haruno and Yamanaka girls – because I stood up to Kiba when he tried picking on an unpopular orphan girl… (A few names are cancelled out) Ami! Yes Ami, she has weird purple hair.

I will tell you more about Mother tomorrow.

\- (Journal Entry – Friday, 6th November ) -

I think that Ami girl has a crush on Shino – who is too dim-witted to see it (which is sardonic because he makes observations really well) It is in times like these where I wonder why I was not born with eyesight.

I don't consider eyesight a blessing as I have many other ways of seeing especially through my faithful ones, Mariko, Ji-van, and Premiera – yes I have partners. Specially chosen she was.

She and I have a special link and so what she sees I see and all that. We, the Mādokku, do not just choose any common bats but we can control them. No, each newborn Mādokku goes through a special rite at a time after his birth. In this rite he is to be drawn to any bat in his family keeps or in the clan cave. That is all I will (say is crossed out) write down.

\- (Journal Entry – Saturday, 7th November ) -

Because I promised to tell you about my mother here is some info about her:

Her name is Shimizu Z. Aburame. She is currently aged Thirty-Four years. She has very spiky hair and it is shaped in an Afro. She has pale skin; Father said it is because she has a condition that causes her to lose heat rapidly. She rarely speaks (even for an Aburame) but when she does her voice has a buzzing to it and she replaces her s (with z) and repeats her z. She wears a dark-grey shirt with matching pants under her light-grey button-up jacket. The jacket also has a hood which she keeps over his head. She has a small gourd on her back which keeps some of her kikaichū.

She names her kikaichū Yoroi-(Armor) and Ude-(Arm).

Her Yoroi function as a defensive and heat providing source; yet they are more in tune with her defensive Nature type – rock.

But the Ude are her primary offensive measure and have been noted on occasions to take the form of a flaming whip. She can also create what I call the Gyaku Bagu Bakudan (reverse bug bomb) – A secret technique of hers that does two things

First – It makes her kikaichū spread out in any area in frenzy/fog attacking any present life forms with vigor.

Second – it also attracts other insects which my mother can use for her own purposes.

And… that baka has been writing that I can't see Ami has feelings for me… of course I know… I'm just not that interested.

\- (Journal Entry – Sunday, 8th November ) -

Since Shino shared information about his mother I feel obliged to do the same.

My mother's name is Saigō O. Mādokku; she has what you would call purple straight hair that she keeps in two pointed ear like projections with the rest of it falling down wildly. She has a claw-caused scar marking her right eye's end all the way to the ear – she said it is a mark of honor as she saved a little girl's life to 'gain' it.

I have felt my mother's face very often and from what I can feel her face is more narrow than rounded with slightly more pronounced cheekbones and she has a very demonic but alluring look because she's bonded with her first faithful one – gives a bat/vampire like image.

She also uses the word bloody a lot, when trying to emphasize a point without shouting or advancing to her second stage's face – trust me she is really scary when she looks like that and she puts bite to her supersonic scream (my own alternative to bite and bark as in 'all bark but no bite')

I will now endlessly brag about my mother just like Shino did.

My mother is the only one in a long time to have bonded (although not completely) with her faithful one… something I wish to accomplish in full. Now the bond does not only give her, her appearance but it also enhances her speed, strength and sense of hearing. She can also fly for a short time without exhausting herself. She has also gained the sage/summoning contract for the bat dwellings in the summoning realm: Cave Takahashi; granting her a secret ability which wouldn't be secret if I wrote it down.

Now there is a down side to these abilities – they exhaust her, quickly, although she would not be a real kunoichi if she had not widened her limits and she can stay five hours just feeding off the littlest of ultrasound waves.

I will name her most devastating technique I have 'seen' her use is her Chi Nuki (Blood Draining) Jutsu(2) – it is or would be a disgusting sight (I cannot see) since she uses multiple means (mainly her elongated fangs or the cables that burst out from her wrists) to suck her opponent's system dry and empty. It was that one time when she was really angry at the time of the 'random' kidnappings from Kumogakure no Sato (Village Hidden by Clouds). Yep, they tried to kidnap me and from the sounds I heard and what I could 'see' it was a horrible sight.

Oh yes! It has been a whole week since _he_ left…

\- (Time Skip – Sunday, 29th November ) -

We were all taught our first official Jutsu today – the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique) – funny how everybody got that down and went to celebrate but they don't share our pain… It has been a month since _he_ disappeared and we decided to head to Ichiraku's for 'celebrations'… It wasn't really an exciting day for me since I do not really 'see' the need to celebrate… (Liquid smudges the next words written)

\- (Journal Entry – Monday, 30th November ) -

We got the whole day off today… And I was really bored so I decided to harvest Torune's bugs and water Naruto's plants that he had placed at my clan grounds (although the ones in his apartments were handled by Kōmori)

Oh Yes! Father said we are leaving next week on official village business out of Konohagakure no Sato (Village Hidden by Leaves). I did not complain as it would be better than staying in a boring Academy class and listening to the teacher retell the life of some great 'hero' – Pfft… because we might see them as heroes but the ones they were fighting see them as monsters – at least I will learn all those different aspects of politics and diplomacy and whatnot because I would learn from my father and I would need these skills in the future because I am the sole heir to the Aburame clan – I wonder if Mother and Father will ever have another one.

I guess I, at least, need to go over the next preparations for the journey and complete my assignments…. So I guess this will be one of my last entries (detailing events) for some time…

\- (Time Skip – Tuesday, 1st December ) -

This is a joint journal… I decided to just state that… I have my own and he has his but we are privy to each other's entries, funny Shino, the 'logical one', did not think to mention this… Or have I already done so?

Ok so… I am on my way to learn my first hiden technique. Ok maybe I am just 5% there but it is still a beginning… Although my mother says, 'it is not the sheer destruction a Jutsu causes that turns the battle in your favor (although it helps a lot) but how you use the smallest/commonest of Jutsu with your own created/original ones to create a greater reaction.' Then she usually adds, 'Unless you are bloody chakra monster then you can use the first strategy to your contentment, so work on your bloody chakra levels.'

Trust me you do not want to say yes to my mother when she asks you for a friendly, chakra- building spar. But at least she does not scream 'YOUTH!' like that funny man in the green suit… Mother says not to underestimate him and I wonder why…

Snow fell today… School is out

If you have not realized what I am doing right now you must be really oblivious to Shino's entries… Shino Is Gone, just to make it simpler for you. Hmmm I believe I shall take up poetry… maybe Mother's red plated book could be a source of information for me… Or I could just drown myself in literature at the library…

\- (Time Skip – Friday, 11th December ) -

This is my first poem written in memory of no one in particular, I guess it is just a random well-worked-on gothic piece of work.

 _In this dark and stormy night,  
Someone is going to die,  
Sad… This will be his last,  
But he does not know that, _

_How fragile life is,_

 _Why do humans waste it so?  
How do I know?  
Because I wield the knife,  
That will cut his throat out.  
I also have a spoon to pluck his eyeballs out,  
But in the end I hold the power over his life,  
Is not this all that matters?_

 _Because life is really fragile_

 _-And now I am in a cell,  
Awaiting my execution,  
How did everything go so wrong?  
Sigh, Life is so fragile,_

 _So keep it well and enjoy every single moment of It;  
For I could be the one knocking at your door._

\- (Time Skip – Friday, 11th December ) -

I am 10% there and Shino still is not back… I have nearly completed my next piece but I do not think it is good enough… it is missing something…

I hope Shino is not in trouble he hasn't updated his journal apart from the short notes he wrote last week.

\- (Time Skip – Wednesday, 16th December ) -

… _You're an Angel of Destruction…_

 _You ultimate goal would be to see the world in pieces._

 _Rage and Destruction feed off you,  
and you have a negative energy  
that manages to intimidate most people._

 _Cruel, Heartless and often alone,  
you see yourself as better than most people._

 _You reach your own Goals,  
and remain independent,  
silently hating the rest of the world. (3)_

School's year has finally ended and I wrote the above whilst sipping hot cocoa imported from… wherever it was that it was imported from.

\- (Time Skip – Friday, 25th December ) -

(The handwriting is frenzied and the words misplaced and not on the lines)

I just received news of Shino having been kidnapped and I scrapped up my last poem…

Kuso, Kuso, Kuso, Kuso, KUSO!

I really wish I was a ninja right now but I am not (Deep Scribbles are made and some of the next pages are ripped apart.)

\- (Journal Entry – Saturday, 26th December ) -

Awakening is not a really nice process, I still feel sore… I am at a loss for what happened but I could see the pride in Mother's face despite the damage I caused to the clan grounds and to her body (though the latter has healed at an inhuman rate)… I was so angry and distraught at Shino going missing it, my anger, triggered it this early…

\- (Flashback) -

" _ARRRRGGGGG_ _ **GGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"**_

" _Was that what I think it was?" The Mādokku clan gate patroller asked his partner._

" _Yes… SOUND THE ALARM! All units to the clan square three!"_

" _ **Let the rage out,"**_ _The voice slowly echoed all over Kōmori's clouded mind._

" _ **RAAAAAAAAAARGGHHHHHHHH!"**_

" _Do not deal any permanent damage,"_

" _Saigō-sama, but this is not a normal awakening,"_

" _No! Do not hurt him… he is still just a bloody child!" But deep within she knew this was not a normal awakening – far from it in fact._

 _A normal awakened form did not have blazing (literally, it was as if fire was bursting out) eyes. It did not have a long, sharp-tipped, black, tongue (although the lengthening was normal). Its form was not that of a teen sized hybrid wolf-bat-human with longer-than-usual arms. This form had the hind legs of a bi-pedal wolf and it had huge bat-like wings, the aforementioned elongated arms. The only thing relatively human was its face although furry as its body was (the fur took on a dark red color)._

 _Five of the fighting group broke out to execute a melee strike on the boy. A kick was blocked; the counter was a rib-splitting punch. A fist struck nothing but muscled chest and its launcher was rewarded with a skull-cracking concussion-causing blow to the head causing him to bleed from his nose and mouth. The next fired a line of weak but distracting fireballs which were, unfortunately, repelled towards the clan HQ which set it ablaze – briefly before being out by an effective water jutsu. The launcher of that jutsu was downed by the same slam that downed his present comrades._

 _It seemed this was of an elite class of awakening not seen in a long time – and it would never have been seen without the dormant wolf gene, present only in the original family bloodline, awakening and fusing with the main, more present bat gene._

 _More back-up Nins had also arrived and they were already evacuating the non-battling clan members and the injured. The situation was getting more escalated and the clan had to utilize more crippling methods of subjugation._

 _A huge cloud made entirely of bats rushed at the boy who let out a supersonic roar and jumped through the hole made in the cloud by it. The cloud closed with him inside it and the bats rapidly attacked Kōmori inside trying to immobilize him._

 _The jutsu would have held if not for the boy utilizing his unfinished jutsu, which shocked most present at the injurious destruction it caused – all the bats forming the cloud were near-obliterated by the sheer force of the Sonic Ball Impulsion._

 _Kōmori wasted no time in exercising the power of flight his wings granted him after he was freed and started charging up another Supersonic Roar this time larger – if the distortions in the air around it proved anything._

 _His mother moved in front of the shocked ninjas with the intent to stop the destruction. She held out her hand – an outstretched palm facing her son – and awaited the attack._

 _The wailing sound the roar made was threatening in its own right and many ninjas jumped back and shielded themselves._

 _Then… nothing… well obviously something happened but it wasn't anything expected, the attack just ceased to be and yet the Mādokku clan head was littered with small cuts._

 _The flying boy fell abruptly when a figure clad solely in black appeared behind him and delivered a swift but immobilizing chop to a nerve cluster/Essential Tenketsu at the back of his neck. Luckily he was already near the ground and so was not hurt… much._

\- (Flashback End) -

My neck is sore, my head aches, it hurts when I breathe heavily, my sides hurt, the list goes on and on…

Mother says we will be training to keep my form in check so I guess I can rest assured that I will not cause any more damage to anybody else… Oh yes, it turns out Shino was rescued by a mysterious figure…

\- (Time Skip – Friday, 1st January ) -

I've finally returned to Konohagakure and I feel well, I mean there is nothing like being kidnapped on a diplomatic mission.

\- (Flashback) -

 _Currently it is snowing heavily outside the popular Aka Ryokan (Red Inn) in Pāpuru Village and Shino was sitting on a chair in his room staring out the window whilst sipping hot tea. The view was beautiful as there was a sort of light show coming from the central lake – Pāpuru (purple) Lake where the village earned its strange name from._

 _The lake itself had frozen over but anybody could see the clear and purple waters contrasting each other in the huge lake which were a spectacular light show in the light of day. The lake was divided into two substances – clear, sparkling water and purple dye – both of which were separated by nothing that could be seen but did not merge with each other. This lake naturally occurring purple dye was said to be produced by the predatory sea snails living at the bottom of the lake._

 _This Murasakiiro no senryō (purple dye) was the town's main source of income apart from the delicious fish reared at the other side of the lake. Really they were a delicacy and so the village was very well off. The village itself was about a quarter of Konohagakure's size with the lake taking one-third of the village's total size. The lake was fully circular (and had a path leading through/in the hill) and so the landmass that made up the main village was in a half moon shape with a hill taking the other side of the lake._

 _The village was partly in the land of fire and a bit at the Great Land borders leaving it open to two choices;_

 _First – they could cut off and become a very minor hidden village or;_

 _Second – they could accept Konohagakure's offer and become allied with them which would be a boon to both as there would be protection from bandits for the smaller village and money source for the bigger._

 _The first was also really thoughtless since the populace did not contain any active ninja and so the cause of the diplomatic mission was to convince the head of the village to stop remaining neutral and join the leaf._

 _Of course, things do not always go according to plan – especially when your heads have two different ideals yet one kisses the ass of the other without telling you (in this case the third hokage allows Danzō to run around hence jeopardizing the safety of the diplomatic party) – and we go back to Shino… who has left his private room…_

 _But on the hill there is a barn-like building hidden behind heaps of snow and vegetations and it is inhabited, "Arr damn idiotic f*ck*ng snow!" obviously by a foul-mouthed man._

" _Oh do be quiet Ritoru-san." and by a female too._

 _It is also was clear that the man's name did him no justice as he was passing the normal seven feet mark reaching eight and he was also large, very muscled and dark-skinned. He was bare-chested with only a strap running across his chest holding a huge battle-axe. At least he wore pants but they were very loose and were held up by a rope around the waist. His hair which was only a single tall strip running from forehead to neck (like a Mohawk or something resembling Zangief's) was black and his face was that of a long-time boxer – crooked and wrinkled._

 _The woman was far shorter (about five feet two inches) and unlike her companion was light skinned yet also had a toned (not overly muscled) physique. Her hair was straight, green and reached her shoulders with two bangs hanging in front of her ears. She also was clothed in a low cut black shirt, covered with an open, green, cropped jacket and a short skirt covering black leggings. She currently and repeatedly twirled a long Bō staff between nimble fingers._

 _There was also another person in the shadows wearing a top hat and a full black tuxedo with a black inner shirt and shiny shoes. This person was really hard to see due to his all-black clothing but he was really short and it seemed the persons present were not aware of his present as when he spoke they stiffened as if hostile till they recognized his voice._

" _Rikuro-san… Juri-san," He spoke in a raspy cadaverous voice,_

" _Aito-Sama!" They responded in union once they realized who he was._

" _Have… you spotted… the Konoha *Cough* squad?" He asked and received a nod as his answer, "Good… eliminate the weak… *COUGH, Cough* link… and report to… the arranged location… for payment… that is all." And he left as he came unnoticed by the two and through the shadows._

 _The two suspicious persons were totally unaware of the fourth figure silently monitoring them and disappearing after a while._

 _The next few days flowed smoothly without a hitch and it seemed the Konahagakure envoy had nearly completed their mission, nearly._

" _So have you finally come to a decision Shichō (mayor)?"_

"… _Yes… I have decided to-"_

 _*BOOM!*_

 _At the sound of the explosion, all the people in the room flung themselves to the floor; some gracefully, others… not so much._

 _The mayor with his head pressed to the ground shouted over the noises coming from outside his tower, to ask a question, "What in Kami's blessed name was that?!"_

" _Judging from the resonance and initial sounds made, I believe it was a high-powered 'cursed' explosive tag set to automatically explode at this time of the day at the…"_

"… _At the?"_

" _Oh Kami! Shino!" This was followed by Shibi jumping out of the tower window; which was several stories up high._

 _The mayor and his assistants rushed to the window thinking the distraught father had jumped to his death due to his son's obvious death… How surprised they were when he landed on the shoulder of a giant/fat brown haired man clad in red with grey plate armor with the kanji for food on it._

 _Since the man was big he reached the huge but flaming – at least at the top floors – inn in about five minutes (the Akimichi was still small compared to the village) and Shibi launched himself into the floor below his son's room despite the inferno threatening to consume him; the Akimichi left to help the Shōbō-tai (fire service) put out the fire that endangered the surrounding buildings._

"Damn it Danzō, first my adopted son, now you don't trust my persuasion skills! I swear if my son is hurt you will regret it!" _Shibi's thoughts nearly filled his already worried mind with more worry and rage – dangerous for any ninja in his position – as he searched the hallways for his son. As he passed yet another door he heard crying and immediately stopped and checked the room for the source. Soon he found the source and had to make a decision – a serious one that tested his emotions._

 _\- (Five Minutes Later) –_

 _*CRASH!* The sound of glass breaking made all present look up to its origin to see a black-haired man running down the building with a bundle… no, two… make that three, three bundles on his person. As he neared the floor he flipped off the building and made superb landing; making all the people surrounding him clap frantically and a woman run towards him taking her babies away, thanking him profusely._

" _Shino! Where is Shino? Has anyone seen Shino?!" The distraught father cried out before a short figure clad in a black-elite-ninja robe – akin to the root attire – landed before him and laid his son on the floor. Under closer inspection, Shibi saw this was an actual root member who had been through an intense fight. He was about to show gratitude but the boy had already left._

 _\- (Two Days Later) –_

" _My loyal citizens, it is with great pleasure that I announce the official alliance between our beloved village and Konohagakure. May this alliance open more doors for our small village and hopefully protect us against bandits who seek to prey on us, the weak." His announcement was met with loud applause and shouts of approval._

 _\- (Later) –_

" _My friend, I would like to thank you for your brave acts at the Aka Ryokan. I thank you and wish you peace. Please take this bottle of refined Murasakiiro-no-senryō as a token of gratitude." And with that the squad from Konohagakure left Pāpuru Village._

\- (Flashback End) -

Yes, I saw again that day, _him_ , in that boy; my savior. He could really fight, he moved like a blur of black. Through the rip in the old sac they were carrying me in; I managed to see nit bits of the action.

That ninja was superb because I have never seen someone move that fast before… except from Might Guy – who is referred to by Kōmori as 'the funny man in the green suit' – anyways so he seriously took on the gigantic, dark-skinned guy with the battle-axe (which caused him to get rips in his attire and I think I saw blood) and the shorter woman with the staff. I got knocked out when I was launched into a boulder by the aftershock of three, very powerful, colliding techniques from the fighting parties.

I have told Kōmori about him and he told me about his awakening – _he_ would have been very proud even though he caused a lot of damage. Oh! Yes, my birthday will be in Twenty-three days. I'm tired. Goodbye.

\- (Time Skip – Sunday, 24th January ) -

It was my birthday today and yet Kiba attended, said something about his 'mother dragging him along. How I wish I had recorded that.

Ami also visited my birthday… although she had to leave early due to orphanage rules… I'm not sad I'm just… I don't know.

I received one Refined Masashi Kunai & Shuriken set from Father, a near-bottomless bag from Mother, a Bat fang from Kōmori and the list goes on and on but I don't want to seem… supercilious but it is nice to have presents isn't it because most of them could help you in the future.

I have decided to… stop dwelling on _him_. Not as in – forgetting him but stop seeing the world with him around because for all I know he's… he's… Oh Kami! _He_ could be continuously tortured at this moment or… have become a… a… a mindless killer. Oh God, I can't think about this. Sorry!

\- (Time Skip – Saturday, 31st July ) -

You know what?! Shino can go rot in hell.

Yes, I said it – He can go rot in hell!

Stupid Baka did not attend my birthday party – so he is pissed off at me for insulting Ami; all I said was that she was a little… you know… resembling a wooden board. Fine that was maybe uncalled for but he insulted _his_ image; spat on it!

Okay, maybe I should calm down before I get too angry and destroy you – it is very fortunate you were not destroyed in the last fire. I'm nine and Shino is ten. Is it not strange how we all grow up so fast? I will go to bed and apologize to Shino tomorrow. Yes!

\- (Time Skip – Saturday, 10th October ) -

Today the fireworks in the sky were all so bright and exciting – they were called a shooing of the memories that haunted us; memories of the Kyūbi attack.

But to me, this was my best friend's birthday and h… no, I will not celebrate for this cause; I will not be lied to… I know the truth! I know the truth.

\- (Time Skip – Monday, 24th January ) -

It is my birthday again and I have finally gotten over his disappearance. He did not leave us; did not forsake us – but if he is dead, I know he isn't (too darn stubborn), but if he is, he'll be watching over us. Luckily we have only one year left to our final exams. If you are wondering, why Kōmori is not writing his poems in you – has he stopped?

No because that would be absurd, he never gives up on what he is determined to finish just like Naruto… yes Naruto… that's _him_ – Naruto. Anyways he has got a new book, so that's why and besides you're nearing your final pages, aren't you?

So Kōmori is officially leaving for intensive training to control his Awakenings; they've happening pretty often but not full because the last I saw him he was furry all over.

At last, it's only one year till we finish the Academy. Isn't that good news?

\- (Time Skip – Sunday, 31st July ) -

I managed to smuggle this Journal with me on the trip; man! This is a really killer trip. So far I have beaten my first bandit. I am not joking! That is for Shino when he sees this and is laughing at the incredibility of my above statement. I have pictures of the downed bandit which I will show you (Shino) when I get back.

At least I have perfected my partial transformation over certain parts; namely both wings and an arm. But I have a long way to go to achieve the full Stage-1.

Other good news is that I have finally perfected my usage of the clan's dominant Jutsu casting language and also my first Hiden Technique (which I told you about earlier before my awakening) – the Prima Technica: Sonic Minge/Domeniu Impuls (First Technique: Sonic Ball/Field Impulse) (4).

Shino, dear friend, if you are still amused, get this: I was not kidnapped on my first trip out of Konohagakure.

\- (Time Skip – Final Entry – Shino – ) –

The last page, is it not? I have really enjoyed expressing myself to the fullest in you. But alas we must part ways because every good thing must come to an end. I do wish to savor this moment but what is the point of delaying the inevitable. So I finally convinced 'short stuff' to include Ami in the group – our little group for us strays.

Well I have to tell you, the Academy training schedule has been really tuned up since Naruto left. Not as much as clan training but at least now we have a ten percent more flexible taijutsu stance, a basic knowledge of Genjutsu, basically how to dispel and cast two E-ranked ones – the bunshin no jutsu (Clone Technique) (5) and the Nise no Kakudai (Fake Enlargement) (6) . We were also taught two ninjutsus (or at least one and half) – the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) (7) and half of the Sairentosteppu (Silent Step).

At the very least this will give all graduates the ability to defend themselves from the common bandits prowling the outskirts of Konohagakure.

I guess that is all I can remember – at least, that is all that will fit.

Thank you for this opportunity, I really cherished the listening. At first when Mother gave me this journal I really was not enthused – I had lost my best friend – but slowly, as you know, I came to tell you things I wouldn't tell anybody. So thank for these three years.

Don't expect short stuff to write in you for some time I believe he said he couldn't just use your last pages for anything other than the best event. There is also going to be a new student arriving so we can look forward to that.

With my last lines I write thank you and goodbye (Liquid smudges the 'e'). This is why I wear goggles, kuso!

\- (Time Skip – Final Entry – Kōmori – ) –

I just got the last lines of the poem ready – after two months – but first you will be happy to know I just 'saw' Ami kiss Shino – whether he tries to convince me it was just a small one his cheek (which was dangerously close to the mouth) I still 'saw' them kiss. It sure is nice when you have 360˚ vision. Anyways on with the poem (Do not worry, although I write this in class, Iruka is out; bringing the new student.) it is more of a short limerick just because I have no space – I'm saving it to describe the new student – I really did not want to go out with something sad or sentimental:

 **YOU WILL THINK IT QUITE ABSURD**

Said the snail to the tortoise: "You may  
find it hard to believe what I say;  
you will think it absurd,  
but I give you my word,  
they fined for speeding today."

"Well, well!" said the tortoise. "Dear me,  
how defective your motor must be!  
Though I speed every day  
not a fine do I pay;  
the Uchiha cannot catch me, you see!"

Damn it, not enough space, anyways the door just opened. Ok so first thing I see is… Iruka, he's beckoning someone to come in; most likely the new student.

He has blood-red hair and the same marks as… the same… Kami… Kami… Kami! (The writing slopes greatly and is uncoordinated, not unusual of Kōmori but much more frantic)

\- (Chapter End) -

1- It means idiotic child.

2- Chi Nuki (Blood Draining);  
Rank: High-A  
First known User: Saigō O. Mādokku.  
Description: This jutsu takes a medium of transference of the blood involved therefore making it unique to Saigō Mādokku who can generate blood sucking tubes/cables from her wrists or 'modify' her canines for this purpose. The jutsu mainly sucks the very life-giving fluid out of the opponents system, leaving a dry corpse, whilst replenishing the user's own supply.  
Additional Notes: This jutsu was probably developed with the tales of vampires of old in mind; Saigō's bats can also aid in the blood sucking process.

3- Sadly, that is not entirely mine. But the other poem is.

4- Prima Technica: Sonic Minge/Domeniu Impuls (First Technique: Sonic Ball/Field Impulse);  
Rank: Mid-B  
Type: Hiden Ninjutsu  
Known Users: Exclusive to the Mādokku clan Approved.  
Description: This jutsu is derived from the ultrasound scream of bats. Technically the user generates a field of pure sound around him and charges it till it reaches the required frequency/power. With a full-body push, the user releases the field causing it to seemingly enlarge whilst obliterating the things in its rotund path. Alternatively, the user may use their hands to concentrate the sound at a fixed point turning it into a ball that when released, explodes much like a grenade; yet with distortions in the air signaling the destructive power in place of flames. The jutsu has a recovery time of at minimum thirty seconds, as observed from the legendary Sāigo Mādokku and her daughter.  
Additional Notes: This was inspired by Pein's Deva Path jutsu: _Shinra Tensei_ _(Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)_ ; I observed it both in the Naruto anime series and the Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2.

5- Bunshin no jutsu (Clone Technique);  
Rank: E  
Type: Genjutsu  
Description: The user creates an intangible copy of him/herself to trick an enemy. It is most effective with opponents with low to no mental barriers/ ninja training (I.e.: low class bandits or other Academy students). The clone technique is not physical but a mere illusion therefore cannot be used for direct offensive/defensive purposes. Although a basic technique, one's ingenuity can make it effective; combining it with other ninjutsu for the best results.  
Additional notes: These clones can be easily distinguished by persons with dōjutsu. A person with normal eyes can also distinguish the clones from the original, since the clones do not have shadows and will not disrupt the area around them with their movement (i.e. won't kick up dust, crush grass, etc.).

6- Nise no Kakudai (Fake Enlargement);  
Rank: High E  
Type: Genjutsu  
Description: The user creates a large replica of him/herself to frighten the enemy. The enemy may slow down in whatever he or she is doing allowing the user a window of attack. Unlike the clone technique, this technique puts most of the opponent's focus on the bigger replica. It may also be combined with another jutsu to make the jutsu range seem larger; at the cost of more chakra.  
Additional notes: This is not to be mistaken for the Akimichi clan Hiden jutsu: Baika no Jutsu (Multi-size Technique), as this jutsu creates a replica of the user. Although the Baika no jutsu was an inspiration.

7- Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)  
Rank: E  
Type: Ninjutsu  
Description: With this technique, users replace their own body with some other object, generally with a block of wood, the moment an attack lands. This creates an optical illusion, making the enemy think the attack was successful. From this, the user can use the lapse in the enemy's attention to attack or flee from the battlefield. Explosive tags can be attached to the replacement for an added surprise. Despite it being a basic ninjutsu taught at the Academy, it is seen as a useful art that can be applied in variety of situations as it allows for a swift getaway from danger. The technique even allows a restrained shinobi to escape capture.  
Additional Notes: This technique is based on a real-life ninja art, kawarimi. It was an ancient ninja art revolving around misdirection and the split-second timing of a switch between a 'body' and a location, or between two or more bodies: A technique utilized by ninja in ancient Japan, involving the ninja and anything that can be mistaken for them, (such as a dummy or a mannequin). As it means "a quick shift in position, or adaptability to changing circumstances", it is also utilized in Sumo.

So I guess that sums up all 5000+ words I wrote in apology for my time away, do not worry as I will be free for some time… maybe the whole month of December.

So no previews or any such things, just be expecting something… unexpected to happen on the next chapter of my story.

As always constructive reviews are welcome.

Ciao…

Wait! Check out Obviously I'm not Original and Kurama's Fan 108 for other great Naruto stories as always.

Now I can say…

Ciao. Is that correct, ciao? Yeah… no red, wavy lines so again,  
Ciao!


	7. Chapter 7: Who Is This Namikaze?

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: The cake is here.

Normal speech (Reversed in flashbacks): "Pathetic"

Normal thinking (Reversed in flashbacks): ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation): Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Expressions/Sound Effects: *Wham*

Scene change/POV change: - () -

A/N: I am soo sorry, It's just that I had an upcoming examination this February and I couldn't post the story so I just made the chapter long to appease you.

Update (Version 2.0): So I've been my mad creation is over complex for all to understand at parts… okay maybe I was rushing so I'm going to go slowly now…

\- (Chapter 7: Kono Namikaze wo darena no ka?) -

Previously on Naruto: Soul Eater;

 _Damn it, not enough space, anyways the door just opened. Ok so first thing I see is… Iruka, he's beckoning someone to come in; most likely the new student._

 _He has blood-red hair and the same marks as… the same… Kami… Kami… Kami! (The writing slopes greatly and is uncoordinated, not unusual of Kōmori but much more frantic)_

…

' _Wait that isn't red, it has a more orange hue from what Premiera tells me – she's the best at identifying colors – it isn't Naruto… is it, wait Iruka is talking.'_

"Class settle down, QUIET! This is the new student I was telling you about; boy, introduce yourself." Iruka goaded the newly revealed student who grinned as he stepped out of the shadows.

The boy with shoulder length orange hair and only two whisker marks was dressed in a blue t-shirt under an open orange leather jacket with blue stripes going through it laterally. He wore standard Shinobi pants; loose at the thighs yet tighter below the knee with black Shinobi tape around the tighter part. He completed the attire with normal sandals and blue wristbands with black stripes.

"My name is Menma Namikaze… nice to meet you all." A number of gasps filled the air at his last name: Namikaze.

"What the hell, as in Minato Namikaze?!" Someone voiced out to the irritation of some of the class yet they all expected an answer which they didn't get due to Iruka's timely interference.

"Now, now class, let's not be too privy about Menma-kun's family. Menma please take any free seat in the column to your right." Menma stayed for a while contemplating which to choose.

' _That girl on the third row, left column seems okay… no too pink; hmm what about the spiky haired twins over there in the middle column… naah those fiery orbs in their eyes scare me; what about…'_

In the end Menma decided to sit with the white-eyed, purpled-haired, stuttering girl known as Hinata Hyuuga. Once he got to where she was he nodded in greeting and Hinata shifted to allow him to sit, when he did she hid her face in her hood.

"OK class, now for the big announcement: The Sandaime Hokage has decided to extend the academy period to the end of this year instead of sooner to complete our full schedule." This was met with unsure gazes and annoyed complains especially from a specific mutt lover;

"What the hell Iruka-sensei?! How is that possible? I, for one, know that the standard Academy year is four years but you're saying their making it five!" This was met by nods in agreement of Kiba's outburst.

"Well Inuzuka-san, I heard the Hokage has all power over these matters and our opinion on these things don't matter" A voice said from beside Hinata.

"Yes Menma-kun is right; this is out of our hands, besides this gives us more time to get you to top shape as genin." Iruka replied with a smile, "Now, if you would kindly open your revised textbooks to the last chapter named Chakra control: Tree walking. We will be going into the practical next week, so you have free time to read and maybe practice before that time, remember it's next week Tuesday. Oh yes: the next stage of the taijutsu tournament is tomorrow so all qualified competitors prepare. Start reading your textbooks NOW!" The sound of pages flipping and murmuring put a smile on Iruka's face as he sat down and opened a yellow covered book that was in his desk-drawer.

\- (Academy Closing) -

"Menma-san, please, hold on, I would like to talk to you about something… Menma-san, Menma-SAN!" A noirette called out to the fleeing orange-haired boy who didn't stop, probably in a hurry. She had ebony black bangs that framed her slightly pale face. She was dressed in a plain jade short-sleeved kimono cut off above the thighs showing black shorts that extended till right below her knees. She had purple Shinobi sandals on and a silver ankle bracelet. She had a silver choker on with red vein patterns running through it. "Damn it, he got away… I'll catch him tomorrow…" She said angrily.

Elsewhere Kiba was planning an attack on Shino who was currently walking by him with Ami at his side. You see Kiba had formed a petty rivalry with Shino since their second year in the Academy; petty stuff like ambushes, gang ups, and revenge acts; okay maybe once in a while someone ended up in the hospital but it was still a petty rivalry.

"Hey… wait you guys are supposed to be in the Academy still." Kiba shouted.

"Why do we have to be, Kiba-san?" Ami asked unusually polite to which Kiba had no response.

"Ami, run along and find Kōmori, I'll follow in a minute. I'm just going to have a friendly talk with KIba" Shino coaxed calmly.

"Umm, okey-dokey, be sure to come soon Shino-kun." Then she skipped away joyously.

"Hmm, Quite the piece you got there eh, Shino?" Kiba said gazing at Ami's bouncing, rapidly developing, rear… that is till Shino stepped into his line of view; blocking what Kiba thought was a good sight.

"Now as I already know what you want to do because it's very obvious, I'll save you the trouble of getting beat up and just do this." Just then Kiba's lackeys fell out of their hiding places in the trees lining the path. All of them looked comically grayish with their tongues hanging out and their limbs twitching. The cause or rather causes of this event flew to join Shino who was walking away uncaringly off what he had just caused. Kiba wanted to feel outraged but felt a considerable drain on his reserves.

"What the hell have you-?"

As Kiba fell to the ground he heard Shino saying, "Don't try this again because I won't hesitate to break a bone or two… again… and keep this in mind, she's mine." Kiba tried to retort but was knocked out from temporary chakra exhaustion.

\- (With Ami and Kōmori) -

"Hello, Ami-san where is Shino?" Kōmori asked, curious as to why the purple haired girl wasn't with her 'friend'.

"Mah… Shino-kun said he was gonna have a friendly talk with Kiba-san." She replied seemingly oblivious to the hidden message behind.

Kōmori smirked and murmured, "Yes, I am sure they will have a very friendly _intense_ chat,"

And like always Ami's supposedly superhuman hearing picked that up and she hit her head in understanding, "Oh… Shino-kun meant he was goin' to beat 'em up." Then she snickered in her own unique shrill way that made Kōmori 'stare' at the usually tomboyish girl. Ami noticing the stare gave the boy her signature hostile glare; he turned and 'stared' into the sky.

But really he was amazed at the girl's growth; she had come a long way from a preteen bully of Sakura and some others to an almost genin-level kunoichi even though she was in the Academy. From a red striped pink blouse that was tied at her neck and waist over a dark blue dress that had a marking on the left sleeve which she wore along with a pair of dark pants and sandals – to a black-striped, purple thermal top under an open sleeveless leather jacket with fur lining the collar and 'sleeves' and medium-length red skirt with a slit at the right side running from the thigh downward showing orange thermal pants. From boney and skinny to perfect form for a twelve year old and might he add a developing 32B – what? He lived in a house of women.

And to be truthful he attributed it all to Amanattō Mitarashi; creepy woman had adopted the girl and was slave-driving the girl into becoming a serious kunoichi like her. As many know, this forty-two year-old woman had single-handedly raised her niece Anko Mitarashi; who the duo – Kōmori and Shino – had dubbed 'the creepiest snake lady ever' – and if she(Amanattō) was in charge of Ami then she (Ami) might become the next creepiest snake lady.

Just then they saw the newcomer, Menma dash past them in a hurry to which Ami commented "That bragger, Shino-kun could easily beat 'im, eh bat-boy?"

"Hmm… I do not think so," Ami turned to him surprised, "Not easily because Shino has one of his advantages nullified…"

"Advantages?"

"Shino normally uses a full battle to assess a person's skills but here we have the case in which Shino has not seen Namikaze-san in a battle and the chances are he will be paired to fight him during tomorrow's taijutsu match."

"Bu' couldn't Shino eva-eva… oh to heck with it; examine the guy in the fight." Kōmori snickered at the girl's plight.

"Well he can but he is still working on the speed of evaluation during a battle so let us hope the Namikaze fights an opponent before he faces Shino."

"Bah… Hope is a fickle thing for Ninja; we use… underhanded techniques and try to influence chance." Kōmori nodded as the girl's wise words. Just then Shino emerged from the Academy gates and waved towards them. "Aha, there's Shino-kun, he looks so cute from this far."

" _Well she is lucky her mother is not here to see her act so fan-girly.'_ Kōmori repressed a smirk lest Shino query him on his thoughts but he did start walking; leading the trio to their favorite Ramen bar/restaurant. When they got there, they noticed a black cloaked man leaving it.

Ichiraku Ramen had grown a lot in the years since Naruto left, business had risen as they had been able to secure a tight spot in the main Konoha market and employ more staff; they had also been able to expand their original branch to include a restaurant that cooked all noodles from Soba to Udon and they were thinking about adding a sushi bar soon. Of course they would never have progressed this far if not for anonymous checks that kept coming sporadically with the minimum amount being five hundred thousand ryo.

"Hey Bazu-san we're here!" The mentioned Bazu smiled at them and led them to their reserved table upstairs. When they were properly seated he asked them,

"Well anything you would different today, you three? Or shall I bring in the 'Usual'?"

"Well I've decided to try something different today because I'm feeling up to it and that is because I've successfully roughed up a little… mutt that was dogging me. I have to say he looked like a kicked puppy." Shino chuckled; a sound that only the two seated had heard before. "I would like a Soba with sliced duck breast, negi (scallions) and mitsuba."

"Very good sir and you two?"

"I would like a shōyu ("soy sauce") ramen without the menma and boiled eggs and heavy on the chāshū (sliced barbecue) and narutomaki (formed fish paste)," Kōmori said and after a while added "add an Amacha if you could, please."

"Okay and that brings us to you… Ami-san?" 'Ami-san was currently busily staring at Shino who was staring out the window; she had been doing so ever since he chuckled.

"Oh yes waiter-san, ermm… just get me Tonkotsu ramen with māyu from sesame seeds, not garlic, and add some chicken and soy sauce will ya!" She snapped and continued to stare at Shino till he said,

"You know it wouldn't be best if your mother heard of your lingering 'traits' and you rudeness to others… well mostly the former – as I think she would be proud of the latter." Ami gulped and turned away as the memories of her torture… yes, torture sessions rose to the surface of her mind. Her face became sullen and her eyes lit with a spark of insanity. She then leaned into Shino.

"Ah Shino-kun, Kōmori-chan, Ami-chan what a pleasant surprise!" A waitress called out twenty minutes after they placed their orders as she came into view in front of their table carrying a tray upon which three steaming bowls of noodles sat. "Ok one Soba with sliced duck breast, negi and mitsuba," She placed that bowl in front of Shino, "A shōyu ramen without the menma and boiled eggs and heavy on the chāshū and narutomaki," She placed that in front of Kōmori who uttered a thanks, "And a Tonkotsu ramen with māyu from sesame seeds, not garlic, with some chicken and soy sauce." And this she placed in front of Ami who grinned and sat straight, "Kōmori-kun, your Amacha will arrive very soon."

'Itadakimasu' was said by all three as they fetched chopsticks of the rest and started to eat with Ami being the least mannered in eating.

"Okay, please enjoy yourselves, my little ones, and although I wish I could stay, other customers wait." Ayame articulated and left the table as the trio waved her away making her chuckle.

"This is *munch* very good *slurp*" Surprisingly not one drop of broth flew out of her mouth as she said this. The boys nodded in agreement and continued to eat, "Hey Shino-kun, let's mix (1)." Then they groaned; the last time they had 'mixed' it had certain… unpredicted consequences namely an explosion of one long noodle and peppery gas. This was what prompted Teuchi, the owner, to put them in their private stall with curtains. But it seemed Ami had not learnt her lesson and was currently applying her special bonding chakra (far too much in excitement) to the bowl that had been joined to Shino's own.

Oh… Did I forget to mention; Ami, along with a few other children, had been the subject of certain experiments way before she was adopted – what with a certain snake crawling around before The Kyūbi Attack (or 'that event'; as it was called by the villagers) – it had modified her chakra to give it a certain property. It was able to interact with other objects on a molecular level. Her chakra now had the ability to meld the molecules, of whatever it was interacting with, with itself or some things; with liquids being the easiest to work with. If it went longer than her realized time limit the molecules of whatever she had melded with her chakra would reject the chakra for some reason and destabilize after forcibly being kept in that state and the object would fall apart or spontaneously combust (The bigger the object the bigger the explosion).

A way around this was to remove her chakra once she was done and besides not everything she 'mixed' would be compatible; hence the extensive reading and experiments she did – or was forced to do in the case of the former – on chemical elements and their properties.

"Ami, Stop that right now… Oh Sweet-" Those were Shino's last cohesive statements for a while before the 'mix' blew up… again. But this time something was different… very different: An unconscious Ami had enveloped by a seemingly sentient cloak of grey chakra shaped to be humanoid with hollow eye sockets. Seen around her feet were some of the base elements of the food she had tried to mix; with flour and salt, water and sauce lying around.

"Ami-san, are you okay?" Kōmori asked with genuine concern in his voice.

A groan came from the creature and Shino's eyes narrowed;

…

Another groan and a slight shift;

…

"Kōmori walk over here slowly… very slowly." Shino said cautiously fearing any sudden moves would alarm the creature and cause it to go on the defensive; the boy, as a precaution, sent some of his kikaichū to try and drain the creature of its obviously chakra based power source.

…

The creature had stopped groaning and seemed to be staring intently at Shino and Kōmori who had not moved a single hair on the basis that this creature did not react to anything but their movement; to this cause Kōmori had stopped breathing a few times… then the destabilization started to take place. Shino almost hit his head in realization; this was a product of Ami's 'mix' and her constructs didn't last long without the withdrawal of her chakra and even then they was no telling how dangerously they would react to having their binding agent and pseudo-stabilizer taken away forcibly.

The creature groaned louder this time as if in distress, and then Shino came to a conclusion that sent a chill down his spine: Ami had probably, unintentionally, bonded with the thing before him and she was going to be destabilized too.

"Ami, hold on!" He forced the kikaichū to hasten the process far more than they were accustomed to and some started glowing with the chakra that was not being dispelled quickly enough. Shino noticed the chakra had a grayish hue unlike the normal bluish or even greenish hue it would normally have.

Then everything exploded in a flash of grey light.

"…"

"…"

"Shino are you okay?"

"Yes… do you have sight of Ami? I can't see anything just yet because my eyes are-"

"Shino I see her… she's not moving."

"Where is she?! Point her to me, NOW!"

Kōmori grabbed Shino and led him to Ami's supposed corpse, which Shino grabbed and held tightly; maybe too tightly as he found he couldn't let go…

"Call a medical officer NOW!" Shino yelled out to an equally startled Kōmori who for once moved clumsily, out of the stall. "Foolish girl… because your body has adapted to this chakra it didn't kill you." He sighed in relief, "Your mother is though… going to kill you that is."

\- (At the Konoha General Hospital – Two Hours Later) -

"WHERE'S MY AMI?! WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?" The voice of one, very pissed off, Amanattō Mitarashi rang out throughout the hospital. The scared receptionist looked at the angry green-eyed, purple-haired woman at the front desk who was glaring a hole into her skull. "WELL? Oh sweet mother of… IS this what they pay you for? I understand that I'm the sexiest woman in Konoha but… I swear to whatever deity is up there, IF YOU DON'T SHOW ME WHERE MY DAUGHTER IS, I'LL punch a hole in your skull!" She said the last part with such calmness that it surprised the woman in front of her; and made her actually believe she would do it.

"S-she's in r-r-room number 75; fifth floor; fifth door after y-your first right." The receptionist stuttered out in fear after referring to her computer.

"Thank you." Amanattō said in a sugar-sweet voice then stalked into the hospital towards the elevator.

Looking down at the desk, the woman saw indentations the size of Amanattō's palms on her desk.

\- (Some minutes later) -

"I said I was going to the fifth floor, not the fifteenth floor."

"I'm terribly sorry ma'am"

"…"

"…"

"…"

*DING*

"Here we are ma- aagh!"

"Who the hell are you calling ma'am… Do I look like a ma'am to you?!"

"C-can't spek… air, airr!" The elevator door gave way to the thrown operator letting him crash to the ground unconscious.

"First, damn boy takes me to the wrong place… Now, he's calling me ma'am…" Amanattō muttered with dark storm clouds hovering over her then she brightened, "I should be called Miss. Number One Sexiest Lady!" Then she laughed being trapped in her own world, causing everybody present to sweat-drop. Her body moved on autopilot till she opened the door to her daughter's room… then time grinded to a halt at the sight she saw.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Hehehehe… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH my sweet candy wrapper this is the fifth funniest thing I've seen" She blurted out in hysterics.

\- (With Shino and Ami – Room; 75 Minutes before Amanattō's Arrival) -

"Ne Shino… Is that you? What happened at Ichiraku's?" Ami asked her object of admiration queerly as if some random bout of amnesia had hit her.

But nevertheless Shino started explaining with a sigh then after recanting the tale from his perspective not being sure as to show emotion or not he said that he had believed her dead at the end and was worried.

Ami was visibly touched and grabbed Shino by the head and pulled him into an embrace; but by doing this in such an unstable state she had unintentionally activated her grey chakra around her hands and was sticking to Shino who was blushing madly.

"Umm… Ami…chan, I think you should let go off me before your mother sees us like this." Shino implored her; his bugs had informed of the short burst of killing intent on the fifth floor and he knew who it was.

"Ok…"

"Ami?"

"Shino-kun… I can't."

"What do you mean 'you can't'?"

At the opening of the door Shino jerked back causing both Ami and him to tumble onto the floor in a manner that took the bed sheet with them covering them yet revealing some body parts.

Shino couldn't help but stare at Ami with her purple hair cascading down; Ami couldn't help but stare back with Shino's glasses almost of and his cute blush.

"Hehehehe… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH my sweet candy wrapper this is the fifth funniest thing I've seen" At that voice both tangled persons detached with a force causing them to fly back.

"Sexy Mother Number One it's not what you think it is!" Ami yelled causing Shino to raise an eyebrow at the obviously self-imposed and ridiculous title – although he wouldn't dare say that out loud.

"Oh are you sure my sweet blackberry jam; it seemed you and bug-candy over here were about to-"

"Mother!" Ami yelled a bit embarrassed at the thought although she wouldn't have minded if Shino had kissed her and maybe – okay that's enough.

Soon, Ami was back on her bed with her mother over her asking her concerned questions about what happened.

"Ami, how did this chakra exhaustion come by you?"

"Oh you now… the usual intense training with Anko-nee chan." Ami lied.

"But from what I heard from Shino, you had been at Ichiraku's… did someone poison you?!" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"No… no nothing like that…" At her mother's stare she cracked. "Iwasmixingwhenyoutoldmenotto!" Amanattō stared and Ami gulped knowing her mother wanted the pleasure of her dragging the words out again yet slower. "I was 'mixing' when you told me not to." Amanattō grinned sinisterly and Ami gulped.

\- (Next day) -

"Kon'nichiwa, Shino, I wonder should we go inside or wait for Ami-san?" Kōmori asked in greeting to Shino who had sent his escort away

"It would be much wiser to move into the Academy as Ami will probably not be coming today in order to get her new chakra under control." Shino said dismissively and Kōmori being used to this tone nodded and they moved in through the gates.

What surprised both of them when they entered their right room they saw Menma sitting quietly in the same spot that they normally sat; his sharp nails clacking against the mahogany desks. They didn't think anyone would come before them till graduation day.

"Oh… I see you two came in first… I have some questions for you, may I ask them?" Kōmori nodded but Shino shot back,

"Well, that is a question, are you slow?" If the boy was offended by this he didn't show it, that or he was too slow to get it… The latter was proven correct when the boy's eyes widened in realization seconds later and he chuckled.

"Smart Aburame-san or should I say Shino Aburame, " the atmosphere grew tense and Shino's eyes narrowed slightly, pointing to Kōmori he said, "And you, Madokkū Kōmori… you both seem to like each another very-"

"Each other." Kōmori calmly corrected making Menma lose his cool and frown in confusion whilst Shino smirked, "It's 'each other' not 'each another'. Who taught you to say 'each another'?" It was sort of an idiosyncrasy with Kōmori; by doing this he got amusement from being polite yet annoying.

By now Menma noticed the two were making fun of him and growled, "Okay, I get it, you're both smartasses, stop making fun of me!" Shino smirked having had enough fun and Kōmori for once wished Ami was around to make more fun of their target. "Now, onto my questions… what do you to know about the blond guy who was said to hang around you guys?" Now that, that threw the two friends out of their high seat and the tense atmosphere returned.

"Why do you-" Kōmori asked only to be paused by Shino who instead said,

"We hanged around him out of pity… A Naruto Uzumaki I think." The words were hard for Shino yet they came out and Kōmori was visibly troubled.

"Hmph… well then, get ready to get your asses kicked in today's taijutsu spars!" Menma then walked over to his rightful seat in a hyped show of agility.

When Kōmori and Shino sat at their rightful places, Kōmori literally hissed at Shino, probably for the first time, "What in Kyūketsuki dorakyura no chimamire no Na (2) was that?! Pity! I-"

"Be quiet Kōmori… and take time to breathe whilst I tell you who really abducted Naruto."

\- (One Whole Story Later) -

"Why did you not tell me this earlier?" Kōmori asked flabbergasted at the mere danger of associating himself with Naruto, truly Shino had more of an analytical eye than he.

"Because… that boy walks in one day and next day we are queried on Naruto whilst he reveals our first name; whilst not an impressive feat one cannot just know the names of his new classmates without having access to files of some kind ergo my reason for denying any ties with Naruto since we do not have as much information on him as he does on us." Shino narrowly dodged the question, "I have a scheme though to get closer to him." Kōmori raised an eyebrow as Shino started spelling out things for him by passing his bugs under Kōmori's fingers in coded language.

Just when Shino finished the other students filed in with an air of excitement being carried by them. Iruka entered the class after a few minutes and led them all outside to the sparring grounds.

\- (At the sparring grounds) -

"Man, I can't wait to get this thing through!" Kiba, as always, voiced everyone's thoughts as Iruka started giving the rules for the spar.

"Okay, first off, this is a spar to test how far you've progressed as Academy students and so the Jutsus we've learned are accepted. Secondly, you may use any two jutsu you've learnt outside. If you are able to knockout your opponent, you win; if you get him or her out off the ring, you win; if your opponent gives up, you win. Tools can be used but are limited to blunt kunai, smoke pellets and staves. Intending to kill will result in immediate disqualification and expulsion." Shino took the last statement as untrue for one special Uchiha heir. "First off... Sakura Haruno versus Mia Ryūketsu.

\- (Start Battle) - (Sakura Haruno) - (Versus) - (Mia Ryūketsu) -

Both fighters went to the grass-carpeted, elevated platform and took their respective stances.

Sakura got into the updated academy stance yet it was a bit rigid showing lack of practice; the stance was one that easily allowed the user to defend their torso and head as well as maneuver backwards and around their opponent and allowed for easy kunai use. This was why she clutched the kunai tightly in her right hand and recited her moves with twenty-five various possible changes.

Mia, the noirette from earlier, got into her Saiketsu ken stance taught to her by her parents. Now she had ebony bracelets on her wrists and three senbon in her mouth. This stance focused more on striking parts of the circulatory system and halting the flow of blood to give the user an advantage when this happens. The user then used their natural talent for contortion to execute a series of attacks; both aerial and sweeping to further disable their opponents and dodge attacks. The end result was usually the implosion of the opponent's heart but Mia hadn't reached that point in training yet so had to focus on putting her opponent's limbs to sleep with senbon and strikes. The Ryūketsu also seemed to have a very well kept ability that surrounded manipulating the flow of blood; they had further covered it up by saying their specially made senbon were specially designed to suck in blood hence the red hue it took when it struck an opponent's vein or, even worse, artery

"3… 2… 1… Hajime!"

Mia spat all three senbon in quick succession at the pink haired girl. In reponse Sakura leapt back then dashed around the senbon when she landed… only to notice Mia had disappeared. This threw her in for a loop as she looked around then suddenly looked up to see Mia's leg connecting with her face and as she toppled Mia grabbed her shoulders and threw her towards the edge of the ring. Sakura dug her kunai into the ground and it tore into the self repairing grass-carpet harshly whilst slowing her down.

Seeing Sakura still in the ring, Mia rushed at her and instead of throwing a punch, Mia threw herself forward, dug her elbows into the platform and bent her back to deliver a kick with the soles of her feet. Sakura, having expected a punch, was hit in the abdomen and found herself being thrown back when Mia pushed off the floor with her forearm to rise. Seeing her fall inevitable, Sakura put all her weight into one punch that, fortunately for her, hit the rising Mia and sent her tumbling back but the effort wasn't enough to change anything and Mia quickly recovered albeit with a bruise on her cheek.

Now Mia wasn't one to let the chance for retaliation go and grabbed almost fallen Sakura by the collar, bringing her back into the ring only to deliver a swift roundhouse kick to Sakura's face, flinging her out of the predetermined ring like a ragdoll.

\- (End Battle) -

"Yameru (3)! The winner for this battle is Mia Ryūketsu by throw-out." Iruka announced whilst recording the statistics on a personal board and moving Mia's Icon further on the tournament chart. "Hai, would Kiba Inuzuka and Chōji Akimichi step up please for the next battle."

\- (Start Battle) - (Kiba Inuzuka) - (Versus) - (Chōji Akimichi) -

Chōji, with the signature swirls on his cheeks, donned a green, short-sleeved haori with a long, white scarf over a light-green shirt, with the kanji for "food" (食, shoku) on it. He wore black shorts, hoop earrings, and bandages around his legs and forearms. He readied himself to fight his opponent with a small smile on his face.

Kiba, with the fang markings on his cheeks, his attire consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood placed on his head, over an apparent plate of armor and fishnet undershirt although it was not seen. He crouched onto all fours and waited for the order to start.

"3… 2… 1… Hajime!" Iruka yelled and Kiba instantaneously charged forward into Chōji's belly causing the 'plump' boy to double over.

He leapt back just as Chōji tried to slam him into the ground and executed a spinning back fist which missed its target and threw him of balance. Kiba regained balance and charged into Chōji's vulnerable stomach yet now he found himself stuck

Whilst Kiba tried to remove himself from Chōji's body, Chōji slammed both hands into Kiba's unprotected spine causing Kiba to fall and reach for his back in agony. Chōji slammed another fist into Kiba's unprotected face and then he slammed another, then another.

The onslaught went on till Akamaru finally leapt out of Kiba's jacket and sunk his developing teeth into Chōji's arm causing the big bellied boy to fallback in surprise and pain. Kiba groggily stood up and slammed Chōji into unconsciousness. He started to drag the boy over and out of the ring but in his flurried state caused both of them to fall out of the ring in a tumble; Akamaru coming with them when he tried to hold Kiba's pant leg.

\- (Battle End) -

"Yameru, the match has come to a draw…" Iruka frowned and had no choice but to cancel Kiba's and Chōji's names off the chart. "Next will be Ami Mitarashi versus Chisso Nenshō… Okay Ami Mitarashi is not around so Chisso gets a pass." Iruka frowned yet again as he was forced to move Chisso forward, the girl grinned at the free pass. "Okay, next up is the battle between Shino Aburame and Menma Namikaze… both students walk up to the platform."

As Shino walked towards the platform, Menma rushed past him and executed a perfect flip that let him land on the stairs without using the stairs. Kōmori and Shino scoffed yet most students were stunned at the show of agility.

\- (Start Battle) - (Shino Aburame) - (Versus) - (Menma Namikaze) -

"You are going straight down bug-boy!" At the sound of this brave attempt to deter him, Shino adjusted his glasses without emotion, yet what the others didn't see was the scurrying of multiple kikaichū over to Menma who stood in the Kung Fu Tiger stance.

Shino dropped his hands into his pockets and adopted a carefree stance which greatly angered Menma causing him to charge as soon as Iruka gave the order.

"Predictable," was Shino's remark as he countered Menma's hammer fist with his forearm and a quick palm to the abdomen, though he had to give the boy points for brute force; the attack had nearly broken through his defense.

Menma charged in angrily and, sadly, blindly giving Shino openings which he let pass instead opting to dodge; he wanted to see the extent of Menma's anger and so he taunted him by crossing his arms. Menma, who had fallen to the ground after charging in recklessly and missed, lunged for Shino's waist, but found himself trapped under his feet after Shino jumped and evaded yet again.

When the expected punch did not come and he turned around to see Shino walking away, he realized the boy was taunting and saw red for a while. With a roar he charged at Shino and declared,

"Sukuratchikurō (Scratching Claw)!(4)" It was then Shino saw the reason Menma left his nails uncut as his jacket was decorated with four diagonal claw marks showing a black shirt underneath.

"Time to get serious then…" With this Shino called out multiple kikaichū to envelop his hands and dashed towards the orange haired boy who was intending to launch another debilitating attack at him.

"Sukuratc- augh" He was cut off by the sudden feeling of chakra exhaustion he felt when Shino's kikaichū enveloped fist came into contact with his chest. He also flew back a couple inches and when he looked down, realized the gaping hole that appeared on his blue shirt showing a tanned chest. _'Got to stay away from those bugs,'_ He mused annoyed at the fact that his enemy could steal chakra. _'Well I've got at least one long range attack that should get him.'_

On Shino's side, he could only anticipate a long range attack heading his way, if the sudden start in hand-seals was any indication. He could defend against it with his Mushi no Tate (Shield of Insects)(5) but it would probably be a heavy hit to the colony and decided to dodge the attack and use that as a last resort only technique; impractical but would save him the trouble of losing so much kikaichū this early.

"Fūton: Sukuratchikurō (Wind Style: Scratching Claw)! (6)" Whilst this was not what Shino expected, he considered himself to be ready for the jutsu. With a single jump, Menma twisted his body sideways and gave his trailing hand enough momentum to enhance his previous technique allowing five spinning blades of curved green wind to wildly fly at Shino with enough speed to visibly distort the air around them.

Shino quickly found a way past them and ducked past the blades moving in a rather rectilinear path. What he didn't expect – and that is saying a lot – were the secondary set of blades launched by Menma that came crashing down into the first set causing them to crash into the place where Shino had just been. The force sent him flying forward and, rather unfortunately, into Menma's fist.

Now cradling a slightly bruised jaw, a downed Shino glared at Menma who dared to turn his back on him and call out for praise from the awed Academy students who were too stunned to do so. Menma couldn't understand why a few of his colleagues were pointing towards his, believed to be downed, opponent and giggling, till he felt a pull on his hair and felt himself get lifted off his feet, and upside down only to end up with his body slamming into the platform causing some crater to form in it.

"That has got to hurt…" Many students winced and nodded at Kiba's statement.

Seeing that Shino was probably taking things too far by starting to pummel his already downed opponent's head into a bloody smear, Iruka called the match in Shino's favor as he went to the board to make the necessary alterations.

\- (Battle End) -

"Next will Hinata Hyuuga and Ino Yamanaka step up…"The two aforementioned girls walked up the platform; one with more difficulty than the other.

Hinata Hyuuga had a concealed bruise on her left eye and a right arm so fractured it deserved to be in a cast with metal braces going through it. In short she needed to be in a hospital yet she was in school; why? Maybe she didn't want to miss this test or maybe, she had been forced to come as she _couldn't_ miss this test as a clan heir. Anyways the fight was about to… start?

\- (Start Battle?) -

Hinata Hyuuga groggily got into a tired stance as Iruka yelled out the command to start the battle. She was greeted with two slow punches from Ino which could have been easily avoided by Hinata. Even Ino was stunned that her blows hit the now falling clan heir.

As she moved closer to inspect the downed girl to see whether she was out of it, she found her feet being removed from under her as Hinata attempted a purely adrenalin fueled sweeping scissor cut kick from a spinning kip up. She felt her head crash into the ground with enough force to knock her out.

\- (Battle End) -

"Hinata Hyuuga-" Iruka was cut off by said girl falling to her knees clutching her right arm so hard any harder would draw blood. "Hinata?!" Iruka yelled out concernedly as he rushed towards her.

"I-I-I won, d-didn't I?" The girl in his arms said in a voice unbefitting of a clan heir; shaky and unsure of oneself.

"Yes you did, Hinata… Yes you did," Iruka frowned as the girl's pupiless eyes were covered by their respective eyelids; it was then Iruka detected the faint presence of a concealer cream on her left eye and around her neck. "The rest of the spars will be postponed till further notice as Hinata is in dire need of a hospital." He then sent one of the students to call his assistant.

\- (Few Hours After Closing) - (Academy Sick Bay) -

Menma was staring in shock at the blind individual before him; apparently the boy knew more of the blond individual he had been searching for. The boy also claimed to despise Shino secretly after the bug user had driven away the blond. It seemed too good to be true and what he couldn't believe was the fact that he wanted to form an alliance of sorts with him to find out more about the blond boy.

Kōmori was also in a bit of suspense as he didn't know whether this would work or not. He had ground out his proposition to the orange haired boy about wanting to find Naruto and had mentioned he disliked Shino. Not too far from a lie as Shino had angered him a bit by not telling him some things about the incident.

"Okay but you have to help me get retaliation on the bug-boy who chose to humiliate me!" Oh how Kōmori wished to correct the boy, yet he didn't he couldn't allow his new 'friend' to get angry at him now could he. Of course, he would need to get a notebook that allowed him to vent his frustrations through correcting whatever Menma said incorrectly over there.

"Well then see you tomorrow, Menma-san." He was replied with a rude 'hm'.

\- (Next Day) -

The day passed almost uneventfully for a Friday except for the fact that the newly formed duo tried to avoid Shino as much as possible and that other event.

Both Menma and Kōmori were walking to the gate when they heard a familiar voice call out to the former of the group; they turned to see Mia running up to them or rather Menma. When she got there she stopped for a while to catch her breath and then started to talk,

"Oh hey boss…" She said to Kōmori, "anyways, Menma-san, I would like to formally introduce myself to you, I am-" The noirette was cut off when Menma spoke,

"Skip that part, I already knew that." He goaded impatiently much to Kōmori's displeasure,

"It is quite rude to interrupt a lady when she is introducing herself… It is quite rude to interrupt anyone when they are introducing themselves, but please Mia-san, as we are all familiar with each other already please continue."

Mia blushed for a second before speaking boldly, "I'm part of a battle club that has recently come into the final stage of the famous Konohagakure battle competition, more popularly known as The _Chimamire no Ken_ (7)… and created by my grandparents if I might add," She beamed and when the two nodded she continued, "This advancement came at a price though as one of our teammates is out of commission for a good month…" She left the silent question hang.

"So you want me to join your battle group… hmph okay but I want to know who your group leader is…"

"Ummm… He's looking at you and he's been following you around for the past day, has he not told you this?" Mia said obviously referring to Kōmori, Menma however didn't seem to get the reference and shouted out,

"What the hell, a stalker, come out you weak coward!" To his embarrassment Kōmori chided him,

"She means me, how could you not get that?" He asked rhetorically.

"Whoa, man I didn't know you were into underground battles."

"I am a boy whose clan's fighting style revolves around darkness, what made you think that?" Kōmori asked once again in exasperation; this job was going to be the end of him.

"Ahahaha… well, when does the tournament resume?" Menma asked scratching the back of his head in discomfiture at being chided again.

"A fortnight from now; be prepared." Kōmori walked away and soon disappeared around the corner.

"So… Mia, how long have you been in Konohagakure?" Was Menma's poor attempt at flirting with the girl who just walked away, "Hmph… maybe I'll just focus my energies on that Hyuuga girl."

\- (Five Meters Below Ground – Under The Ryūketsu Residence – Two Weeks Later) -

"Okay team, our next opponent are the _Herakuresuchīmu_ or the Hercules Team. Now they are not to be trifled with as their physical strength has been something that has been unrivalled throughout the tournament… My strategy, as always, is to strike from the darker parts of the Arena, but this time we can't afford a one-on-one as that would be enormously precarious even for you, Menma-san," Said boy grunted but said nothing, "Will-san will start out as our lead and disable the lights buying time for me to come in second; Mia-san, you go third and try to shut down as many of their limbs as possible; Menma-san, you will be our… wild card as they don't have any information on you. Keep all your focus on one target till they all drop out of the ring or give or are knocked out." Kōmori stopped pacing around the room they were in with his three partners sitting on the bench in front of him.

"Yah boss, I got tha' piece," Will D. Somo drawled out lazily; in his heavy English saturated accent. Will was by far the tallest there, standing at a height of five feet six inches; he was four inches taller than Menma. He had a light chocolate complexion along with black hair in a crew cut, sharp eyebrows, with horizontal cuts splitting a bit of their ends into two, and eyes with hazel irises. His mouth was set in a slightly pouty form and his small pointed nose had a band-aid on it. His outfit consisted of a high collared black vest over a grey hooded bodysuit. With the team's signature night vision goggles hanging around his neck over a silver necklace, white opera gloves and an ash kunai pouch that sat on his hip, Will sat with his pair of grey _Shinobi-Air Walk_ shoes over each other as he crossed his feet.

"Yeah, got that fixed firmly in my head too." Mia agreed whilst sitting in her own outfit not unlike the others. Only differences were the sleek armor plated with gloves with silver seal arrays on the finger tips and knuckles and utility belt holding over a hundred senbon in its pouches.

"Same here," Menma agreed. There were a few changes to his outfit namely the fingerless gloves, the twin knuckledusters on his belt and greaves on his forearm and shin.

All in all, their outfits were very costly but the prize money put all that cost to shame as there were grand rewards for the winning team, the first runner-up and the second runner-up; decreasing with position

Their light buzzed green and this notified them of the start of battle. As Will moved forward through the tunnel to the left, a large screen fell from the ceiling and gave them viewing access to the match.

\- ( _Chimamire no Ken_ Final Tournament Grounds – Just Before Will's Arrival) -

"WELCOME, ALL OF YOU TO THE SEMI-FINAL EPISODE OF… The Chimamire NO Ken!" The screams from the thousand or so fans was so deafening the commentator had to pause for a minute. "Okay… Okay, settle down. Now, as you know, we're down to four teams and it's a double stand-down! Here we have The _Herakuresuchīmu_ and The Yoru KINSHI (Night Bandits); the underdog of the games made up of Will D. Somo; the budding chūnin with that thick accent, Kōmori Mādukko; the blind heir that seems innocent but will bloody your face, Mia Ryūketsu; the blood-stopper and related to the creators and… Oh… What do we have here: A Menma N-A-M-I-K-A-Z-E?!" The crowd gasped at the familiar name and then the chanting broke out, after their initial shock,

"Yoru-Kin-Shi... Yoru-Kin-Shi… Yoru-Kin-Shi… Yoru-Kin-Shi… YORU-KIN-SHI!" The crowd cheered and soon went silent as the green light went on signaling the start of battle and the appearance of the leads; also huge screens dropped allowing the spectators full viewing access to the battle regardless of any conditions.

"Oh and walking up from the first bridge on the right side is Haidora (Hydra) Dominos; in the green/ yellow striped bodysuit with the fur collar, with black shorts and packing a lot of muscle; the lead for The _Herakuresuchīmu._ And from the left side is Will D. Somo; in the grey bodysuit under black vest with white gloves; from the Yoru Kinshi!" The stands erupted into cheers as both fighters stepped onto the platform which rose several meters above rapidly flooding ground. An invisible shield was generated around it to prevent spectator casualties of any kind. "WELL… LET THE BLOODSHED BEGIN!"

With that Haidora charged Will who leapt back and kicked a rock at Haidora's face. This caused nothing more than a dust cloud to form around his face; a dust cloud which reduces his visibility.

"Oh and it seems that Will's started off with an underhanded tactic."

Will jumped and planted a feet into what he felt was muscle that had no place being where it was. He quickly jumped back lest the overly muscled man grabbed onto and disabled him; permanently.

"Blimey, you have waay too much muscle to be normal!" Will drawled out already removing a kunai and readying it for disabling a light.

"I can't allow you to do that!" Haidora bellowed out and charged again with a shout. This time Will jumped over the man's shoulder and used him as a surface to reach a greater height. When he was high and stable enough to throw accurately, he disabled a light at one corner of the Arena – The Arena was basically a circle with a diameter of about eighty meters and had seven triangular extension/bridges drawn some distance before them and below the fans – four at one side and three at another; the first bridge on each side had been lowered.

He would have thrown another one but the presence of Haidora in the air behind him caused him to bend out of reach and miss his chance; he could still do it from the ground but this was more accurate. This was not to say Haidora did not hit him but he did so at a point that wasn't really effective, although it did send Will down.

"Ooh, that aerial battle was short yet it seems Will has gone down first…"

"That hurt a tad bit more than I-" Will had to roll out of the way of Haidora's descending fist lest his head be reduced to a bloody smear. Without further ado, Will started running with Haidora right on his heels.

"Ooh a chase, what fun!"

What Will did next surprised everyone; he took out a kunai and spun with his hands straight in front of him, plunging the kunai deep into the chest of his assailant. The blood slowly started to spill… too slowly. Will was backhanded letting him fly through the air and crash roll into the ground, groaning.

"Ooh First Blood!" At this the bloodthirsty fans screamed out in pleasure, "But it seems Will was not expecting that hit."

"What… The… Hell… was that?" Will ground out in shock yet his voice was muffled as his face was still in the ground, "I struck you, I'm sure I-augh" Will choked on his words as the hand of Haidora curled around his neck; he tried to claw at the hands but relented once he saw what was going on behind his opponent.

"Why are you smiling?!" Haidora growled at the sight of Will's slightly bloody smile, "Answer Me!" He demanded.

"F-f-fir-first blo-blood." Haidora's eyes widened in realization as he felt an immense pain shoot through his neck; he threw Will away and dropped to his knees cradling his bleeding neck. He cursed at his rashness; he should have heard the drawbridge being lowered.

"Hmm… It seems your muscle augmentation suit does not protect some parts of your body..." The boy who displayed signs of hematophagy commented.

"H-how do *cough* you know a-about that?!" Haidora would have charged already but was finding out that the bleeding wasn't stopping and had to redirect muscle mass to that point just to stop himself from bleeding out.

"It is not hard to see when you have eyes everywhere," And although eyes everywhere was stretching things he still had three pairs of eyes, ears and even nostrils and had a lot of information, "If you are wondering what I did to you… keep wondering." Kōmori's normally blank eyes filled with threatening bloodlust, he charged and made to behead his opponent but his hands would not go through with it due to the presence of another massive fist clamping around his smaller wrist.

Kōmori was enveloped in his cloak and the man was left grasping an explosive note. For himself, Kōmori had replaced the vest all his team wore with a long cloak that was dark red at the wrong side and black at the right side; the cloak had high collars and a hood that was currently drawn. He had replaced himself with that explosive note in the nick of time as his wrist would have snapped under the pressure being put on it. He actually smiled at the sound of an explosion, however muffled, going off and the smell of burnt flesh.

"OH Kami, It seems that the drawing of blood has reaaally escalated but the more blood… THE MERRIER IT IS. So it seems Haindo, the first assist, is having trouble holding his hand together or what remains at least. What will happen Next?!"

"I thought I said disable the lights first, did I not?" Kōmori asked harshly as he threw three kunai in different directions consecutively disabling three light bulbs at different corners leaving the Arena partly shrouded in darkness.

"Yeah you did, but I got distracted; did you see the muscle on that brute of a chap?" Will asked incredulously as he disabled two lights leaving only two center lights and one point light on; ergo the Arena became dark.

"Excuses, all excuses… but yes, I did 'see' that muscle, although I did not know you were homosexual, you should tell your leader some of these things." Kōmori retorted without his previous bite. "Put your Goggles on, lest you fall out of tune."

"I'm no' homosexual; I like girls… very much." Will retorted as he raised his goggles to eye level and activated them.

"Sure… you are not; do keep telling yourself that." Kōmori replied jokingly.

"The same way you keep telling yourself Mia-san does no' like you?" Kōmori stopped chuckling,

"She doesn't, and stop trying to turn this thing into an argument… heads up!"

Will ducked just on time to evade the swing from Haindo who had traced their voices, "I guess we'll have ta be careful, eh boss?" Will asked rhetorically as he used Haindo's outstretched arm as leverage to jump away; jumping on the mini-giant's hand and leaping away to safety.

"Yes and start with the 'bat tongue' trap." Kōmori started unsealing a long reel of ninja wire that he cut up and went on with the aforementioned trap whilst evading the attacks of the formidable duo who relented and tried to regroup yet,

"Ooh, it seems the Kinshi are preparing something and are forcing the strong armed Duo in it; does this ring a bell… Oh come on LET'S GIVE A SHOUT THE ACTION'S ONLY BEGINNING!" The fans went wild as if a switch had been flicked, a switch that untied their tied tongues.

True to the commentator's words, Kōmori was preparing some sort of elaborate net sphere-of-wire trap roughly in the center of the Arena whilst Will struggled to keep their opponents in it with explosive tags and thrown kunai.

"Will, I am done get out of there and lower the bridge for Mia, we need to take out these two before their boss gets out… Hurry up please." Kōmori ordered as he grabbed hold of a wire and pulled.

In the sphere, Haindo had just stepped on a strand of ninja wire which was near invisible in the darkness and that was the one Kōmori had pulled. Haindo let a cry of pain out as the ninja wire cut through the sole of his body suit and left him floored as another sliced through his cheek. Soon there was an onslaught of sharp wire against the bodies of the two trapped persons.

"OH WOW, this is quickly becoming one-sided, will the two survive till their boss gets out or will they fall and allow the Kinshi to progress. Wait! Will has effectively lowered the bridge for… MENMA NAMIKAZE!" The stands erupted into deafening

On the Arena, Kōmori halted and then pinched his nose and then face-palmed and then just groaned in exasperation as he thought of strangling Will. When Will heard the commentator and felt the hairs on the back of his neck tingling, he scratched his neck sheepishly and paled, respectively to those two events.

"What happened here Will; a change of plans?" Menma asked as he ran up to Will.

"Kami, Kōmori's going ta kill me!" Will said forlornly as he held his face in his hands and knelt in a comical display of trepidation.

"Oookay, I take it you did something wrong?" Menma prodded as he stared at the depressed kneeling boy.

"I le' you out instead of Mia, you frene'ic, barmy, half-brained bloke." Will retorted harshly, raising his head from his hands.

"…frenetic?… barmy?… half-brained bloke?! Ha, you couldn't even get the order right, you bamboozled, ludicrous radical!" Menma spat back in heated tone.

"Would you look at tha', someone used a big word, you ass." Will continued, yet their verbal battle was cut off as Kōmori flew backwards towards the two sporting a nasty bruise on the left side of his head.

"I'm going to kill you two when I…" Kōmori's blind eyes were covered by his eyelids as he lost consciousness. The two Kinshi then heard a strident roar and snapping of numerous strands of ninja wire and their eyes widened as they set their sight on a remarkable sight.

"Oh the Kinshi are in trouble now with the arrival of Raion (Lion) in the Arena; it looks like they stalled too long, some of the lights are back on and Kōmori seems to be having a nasty concussion; is this the long awaited table turner for the _Herakuresuchīmu_ or will the arrival of Menma give the Yoru Kinshi their much needed edge." The spectators leaned closer in suspense the only thing keeping them from plummeting into the water below was a fence.

"R-r-Raion-sama, we are so-" The two strong men were interrupted by a harsh growl.

"Silence, you shame the name of the _Herakuresuchīmu_ by getting caught in this laughable trap; we cannot be defeated! Get your asses of the floor and flank them!" The floored men jumped up and split up; running towards their opponents preparing to strike from opposite directions. Raion just wound his club-wielding arm and crouched.

"Menma, prepare to jump towards safety, I'm going to carry Kōmori and jump with you." Will ordered in a flurry as their enemies prepared to attack.

"Who made you leader?" Menma asked, still carrying his grudge.

Will groaned and pulled his hood farther above his head as he piggybacked, the auspiciously small, Kōmori, "Jus' do it… NOW!" Menma leapt out of the path of the charging mini-giants followed by, the slightly slower due to his load, Will.

"Ooh, Narrow Escape by The Kinshi especially as one is carrying extra baggage."

They both landed yet were unprepared for the club attack from Raion which forced them to jump back. Haidora charged at them – being closest to them – but they narrowly escaped by falling back yet again.

They were split apart by a hammer fist from Haidora; Menma retorted with a roundhouse kick to the face which surprisingly moved Haidora, to his shock, and left a bruise on his face; Will had to deal with a consistently attacking Raion till a wild slap sent him sprawling away.

"'Raion' huh? Well, let me show you real claws: Sukuratchikurō (Scratching Claw)!" Menma charged at Raion and slammed his sharp claws into Raion's face causing him to fall back.

"Raargh! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Raion yelled in anger then clutched his club in both hands and roared, "Take this: Guraundobureikā (Ground Breaker)!(8)" He let his club slam into the ground causing cracks to travel towards Menma who jumped out of the way of the trap. Menma ran on top of Raion's stuck club and delivered a vigorous kick to Raion's undefended face causing Raion to let go of his club and stumble back, clutching a bloody, broken nose.

"Menma Namikaze, remember that name!" Menma bellowed as he put on his knuckledusters and rushed to continue his assault.

"Ooh, this Menma kid is really taking the battle to another level but will he be able to hold this level of intense battle! But wait, what about Will, what is going on there; such excitement!"

Meanwhile, Will was having trouble evading Haidora and Haindo who had also joined in attacking him. With a quick duck he evaded a roundhouse punch. He had to cartwheel out of the way of a sweeping kick. He jumped and planted a palm on Haidora's bald head and placed a prepared ninja wire lasso around his neck and used his sole hand to get off the head of the grabby man. He applied all his effort to pull Haidora off his feet and into Haindo who was about to attack the prone Kōmori who Will had lain on the floor.

"Bloody ass hat must have weighed near a ton, wha' the fuck is he eating." Will ground out as he massaged his aching hand to reduce the pain from pulling to hard, "I think I tore a blasted muscle over there," With a yelp he confirmed, "Yep, actually tore a muscle strand on my lef'. At leas' I knocked them-" His assailants stood up with a shake of their heads to clear out the vertigo. "Spoke a tad bit ta soon, I see." He groaned, took out a kunai and stepped into a stance.

"Hey, we should flank the boy again, with their leader on the ground we should be able to-" Haidora looked around for Kōmori, "Wait, I wonder where their leader is?"

"Right here you bloody anemic clots!" Both turned to see Kōmori at the last bridge having lowered it and letting Mia out. A multitude of senbon shot towards them, yet they struck thick muscle and only caused a bit of pain to them.

"Kōmori, I need to get closer to disable their limbs!" Mia run out and Kōmori just grinned, showing off his slightly extended fangs,

"Oh don't worry about that." He licked his lips and charged at the two who readied themselves for his attack on them. What they didn't expect was the dark red furry arm that shot out, beyond the normal human length, and nailed Haidora in the gut. It then whipped out and struck the side of Haindo's head, hard. As they recovered they heard Kōmori say, "Mia-san, now you have your opening." Then the felt five small senbon pierce different parts of their bodies after which they felt those parts go numb from lack of blood; they then felt a shoe smash into their faces and all went black.

"OOH, it seems the Blood-Queen has stopped the two brutes and all that is left of the _Herakuresuchīmu_ is Raion-san, surely the battle is over… Ooh, look at that Raion-san seems to be holding strong out there."

True to the commentator's words, Raion was holding out against Menma who was kneeling, clutching a bleeding right arm and had a busted lip. Raion was currently walking, or slightly limping, away from Menma and towards his club only to meet resistance in the form of Menma's partners who were set in their battle stances.

"Hey, Menma, jus' going to le' me be man of the fight, are you? I guess I could let you that." Will taunted whilst smirking at Menma who growled and struggled to his feet,

"Yeah right, like I would ever let that happen, you sloth." '

"Tha' is more like it." Will congratulated still with the taunt in his voice as Menma set himself into the tiger stance.

"Now, let us go by my plan now, shall we?" Kōmori asked as politely as he could under the circumstances. "First-"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! How cute is this? Four brats think they can stop me, turn back before it's too- RAAARGH" Raion screamed out as Will rushed through him with a kunai, leaving a deep diagonal cut on his chest.

"It is really rude to interrupt others, Prima Technica: Sonic Minge (First Technique: Sonic Ball)!" Kōmori concentrated a ball of pure sound between his palms and throwing it at Raion after swinging it overhead to add more speed. It exploded once it hit Raion's crossed forearms and left many lacerations on them.

"Need to do something about those arms, don't I?" Mia then held out her hand in the gun form and fired two twelve inch senbon into each arm. The senbon glowed red signifying the process of blood sucking, which caused both of them to fall slack at Raion's sides. "Menma, please do the honors."

"Gladly, here I come, and as Will would say, you bloody philistine!" Menma flipped over Raion's head and landed in front of him, "Take this, Ton'neru no Tsume (Tunneling Claw) (9)!" Menma charged and drove his five claws on his left hand into Raion's liver, making sure to hit that part in order not to cause any permanent fatalities. The blood spurted out and onto Menma's face causing him to stumble back and fall on his rear. Raion just fell forward and the commentator announced,

"OOOH, WOW THE YORU KINSHI HAVE COME OUT VICTORIOUS! WHAT A BATTLE, WHAT A BATTLE! Will the medical officers come in now, take care of the KINSHI and take those losers out. Give It Up For The Yoru Kinshi!" The stands erupted into dreadfully earsplitting cheers as the medical officers put the Kinshi members, minus Mia, and the _Herakuresuchīmu_ members on stretchers and led them out.

"Hey guys we should meet and celebrate at my house. My dad's not home and he isn't gonna be too soon to come back." Menma announced as they went out and they all agreed wholeheartedly.

"Well, the next battle would be in three weeks and we will be seeing the victor then at the final match, be sure to be there. Remember in three weeks the finals of The _Chimamire no Ken_ will be on!"

\- (Two Days Later) - (Around 6:00pm) -

A large group of adolescents had assembled on 2nd Fire sector in front of a huge Manor; well, that was inaccurate as there were a lot of huge manors on that street, it was after all where all the rich merchants and individuals who didn't belong to a clan or didn't have a large family. SO to be more precise they were standing in front of the biggest house with a blue roof, which was rather secluded with a bit of garden in front of it.

"Is this where his house is?" Kiba asked, yes Kiba; everybody from their Academy class – some like Sasuke Uchiha and Ami Mitarashi had skipped/missed the party but almost everyone else – was there.

"Yes, this is the Namikaze estate." Kōmori said in response after reading the map Menma gave him.

"Sugoi, let's go knock!" Kiba shouted as all of them groaned at his rather loud voice, which tore through the rather silent neighborhood.

They went up to the front door and knocked, the door opened and they saw Menma in the middle of a huge living room filled with food and drinks and decorations with a huge banner that said, 'Congratulations, YORU KINSHI!"

"Oh yes now this is a party and look Shino is all wet, BEST PARTY EVER!" Kiba screamed and rushed to the Jukebox to play some music. Truly Shino had let himself get pranked and laughed at for the sake of his plan.

"Hey, Ino-chan, would you like to dance?"

"Hey, Hinata, what happened to your hand?"

"Where's the bathroom?"

"Let's get this party started!"

"Darts!"

"Pizza!"

"RAMEN!"

Soon the party was in full swing and the sounds of eating, shouting and singing were heard as the students partied as hard as they could. They had a good time…

\- (Unknown Location) - (Time?) - (?) -

"I trust the trip was eventful?"

"Yes, very eventful, I trust you managed things?"

"Just like you, the things went smoothly, yes,"

"How is our _project_ going?"

"We have established full control, and have improved on performance; here is a demonstration on the screen"

"Is that _him_ taking on all five of them at that competition?"

"Yes, watch how perfectly timed _his_ strikes are and how _he_ controls the pace of the battle."

"Good, I have seen enough, pull out and transfer control to me,"

"What… I cannot do that just yet."

"Yes, yes you are going to do that." A quick hand seal

*Crackle-crackle… shhhh* The sound and smell of burning flesh filled the place.

"Argh!"

"I have disabled it, be happy that I did, the hawk had you under its claws pretty good."

"I feel better, I will hand over control."

"Good, transfer all assets, you are relieved."

"How is…" The name was concealed

"He is well; I have great plans for him."

"I trust you do, he will meet _him_ in the final stage, since he joined that team, yet he will not know _him_ , neither will he win against _him_ ,"

"You underestimate him; I trained him myself after all."

"Would you take over the selections or should I?"

"I will allow you that part. Goodbye..."

"Goodbye…"

\- (Chapter End) -

Key:

1\. Mixing is a process that involves Ami using her special chakra to coat the molecules of different elements (preferably liquid or metal) and forcibly combining them to form a new substance. The faults with this technique are that;  
whilst, mixing different objects might seem as simple as a chemical combination it should be kept in mind that not all molecules are compatible and may forcibly explode in Ami's face once her chakra is removed, this presents itself as both an upside and a downside, it may either explode in Ami's face or in an opponent's face if she can keep her chakra around it till it hits her opponent;  
keeping the molecules coated for too long will make them unstable as they will eventually reject the coating and forcibly destabilize or react erratically.  
The applications of this technique being that, Ami is able to form alloys and coat her body with an element that is resistant to damage.

2\. It roughly translates into 'Dracula's bloody name'.

3\. Also translates into 'stop'.

4\. Sukuratchikurō (Scratching Claw)  
Rank: High D  
Type: Offensive Taijutsu  
Range: Short  
Known Users: Menma Namikaze  
Description: The user rears a hand with long unkempt nails and when in reach of the opponent lets the reared hand fly downwards – diagonally or horizontally – or swipe vertically depending on the position of the reared hand causing five cuts (whether deep or shallow depends on the impetus of the hand) to form on the target part. This technique can be used multiple times depending on the speed of the user and the number of 'clawed hands'.  
Additional Notes: This technique can be released under an elemental attack by adding sufficient elemental chakra to it; this lengthens the reach of the attack as observed in the Fūton: Sukuratchikurō (Wind Style: Scratching Claw).

5\. Mushi no Tate (Shield of Insects)  
Rank: C  
Type: Defensive Ninjutsu/Hiden Ninjutsu  
Range: Around/In front of user  
Users: Members of the Aburame Clan; Basic – Elite  
Description: The Aburame release a sufficient amount of hard bodied kikaichū to form a makeshift shield or dome in front of/ around him or her; the strength of the shield is entirely reliant on the type and number of kikaichū forming it. Due to the rather suicidal nature of this technique (to the kikaichū) the Aburame are rather careful in the use of this technique.  
Additional Notes: the strength of the shield is entirely reliant on the type and number of kikaichū forming it.

6\. Fūton: Sukuratchikurō (Wind Style: Scratching Claw)  
Rank: C  
Type: Offensive Ninjutsu  
Range: Mid-Long  
Known Users: Menma Namikaze  
Description: After directing wind chakra to a reared hand, the user lets loose to release razor-sharp curved blades of winds. The angle and thrust of the release will influence the trajectory of the blades as their rather half-moon shape makes them prone to curving. They are rather linear in their path when released normally but a last minute movement of the hand might make up for this by curving their path.  
Additional Notes: Unlike its parent jutsu, the Sukuratchikurō (Scratching Claw), this jutsu does not require the user to have long nails. Also, as shown by Menma Namikaze, the technique can be released in different ways and another set of the blades can be sent out to forcibly change the previous set's trajectory, granted the user has the timing right.

7\. _Chimamire no Ken_  
Type: Fight Tournament  
Location: Where ever is suitable in Konohagakure and its surrounding area  
Description: The _Chimamire no Ken_ is a biannual fight tournament held in Konohagakure, though this does not prevent some of the fights from being held elsewhere. The tournament is divided into five stages: The point gatherer; where teams or fighters battle in a free for all with skill to gain more points and form new teams, respectively, so as to have greater chances of winning the tournament. The knockout; in which teams and individuals that have survived are added to a tournament tree and made to fight in order to progress further down the tree. The Quarter Finals; in which there are only eight teams left and they are pitted one on one till there are four left. The Semi Final; in which the last four teams or individuals are pitted one on one to decide the finalists. The Final; the two finalists duke it out at the most random Arena (each year the randomness shocks all spectators). Whilst not considered a stage The Decider, decides who the first runner-up and second runner-up will be so as to allocate prize money.  
History: It was created by Norin Ryūketsu and his wife, around the time of the second Hokage, in an attempt to foster friendly relations between the civilians of the different hidden villages. Prior to its creation Norin's wife was diagnosed with a disease, rare yet present within the Ryūketsu family, that was nearing its lethal stage and so she could not fulfill her dream of seeing the different fighting styles of the world. In act of love, the Ryūketsu family hosted a tournament between Konohagakure and Sunagakure who were the friendliest to Konohagakure at the time. Seeing an opportunity to keep track of the other villages, the Nidaime Hokage promoted this tournament and made it a regular thing. Norin and his wife held the reins and kept it from being a tool for espionage and rather a show of skills for everyone. After his wife's death, Norin reshaped the rather small tournament and made it more bloodthirsty for the enjoyment of, both the Shinobi and the civilians.

8\. Guraundobureikā (Ground Breaker)  
Rank: Low-C  
Type: Offensive Bōjutsu  
Range: Mid-long  
Known Users: Raion of the _Herakuresuchīmu_  
Description: The user lifts a club overhead and slams it into the ground with tremendous force causing a shallow crevice to travel towards their opponent and trap their foot simultaneously crushing the trapped foot as the crevice tries to continue, giving the user time to launch another attack.  
Additional Notes: In the absence of a club, a fist may be used.

9\. Ton'neru no Tsume (Tunneling Claw)  
Rank: Low C  
Type: Offensive Taijutsu  
Range: Short to Mid  
Known Users: Menma Namikaze  
Description: The user rushes in to deliver a single thrust with his hand that has its fingernails together into their opponent's body. Like the name suggests, it will perform a rather efficient job of piercing through that body part. This technique could be rather devastating to the user, if it is evaded and the user does not get back up in time.  
Additional Notes: Further observation is required but the technique can probably be enhanced with chakra.

And that is a wrap!

Oh cr*p I thought I had already uploaded this only to find out that I hadn't when I opened the story for a friend and he asked me where the seventh chapter was. I am so sorry and to make up for it the next chapter will probably get back to the main plot and we will see our hero as never before seen.

Well that makes this the longest chapter I have written with 11,591 words in the main part… Wow, I didn't know I would go this overboard but do not fear this will not be the longest for long.

Anyways, check out my Spiderman story if you're into that part of and be safe or whatever… Bye my faithful readers; do be sure to drop suggestions and reviews on your feelings about the story.

Ja Ne till next time!


	8. Chapter 8: The Return Of a hero?

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: The cake is… not here?

Normal speech: "Pathetic"

Normal thinking: ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation):  Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Expressions/Sound Effects: *Wham*

Scene change/POV change: - () -

A/N: I was going to write the latest chapter of my Spiderman but I couldn't get this off my mind. If you're wondering; this takes place around Easter.

\- (Chapter 8: The Return Of A… Hero?) -

… _God created man, man spawned new man, with new man came arrogance, with arrogance came sin, with sin came hate, with hate came war, with war came destruction, God created_ _ **death**_ _to control man, yet_ _ **death**_ _could not be controlled even to the point of it devouring the minor deities, so God assigned Eternity to defeat_ _ **death**_ _…_

\- Excerpt from _The Origins Of Death_ ; found in the Uzumaki shrine.

\- (The Final) - (Throne Room Arena) - (23 minutes into the fight between the Yoru Kinshi and the…) -

The massive stands were filled to the brim with some people even standing; normally, one would have expected there to be some kind of cheering or jeering but the place was silent with everybody shocked at the intense battle or, rather twisted, massacre that had just taken place on the Arena. Even the very annoying commentator had shut up and was gaping. Many were staring at the person who did this; he was sitting bored on the throne on the elevated platform with his legs hanging on the left armrest and his cheek resting on his fisted hand propped on the right armrest with a bored condescending and cold visage or rather eyes as his head was covered by a hood. What he was looking at:

The smoking bodies of the Yoru Kinshi littered the Throne room's floor; Will was to the far left sitting against the fence that kept the fighters from falling over; he had a concussion and a deep x-shaped cut on his chest, he also had a disjointed left shoulder and his whole body was giving of thin wisps of smoke.

Mia was lying closest to the stairs that led to the throne and was the one with the least injuries; she had a fractured right forearm and had lost feeling in that arm with a nasty bruise forming around her cheek. She too was smoking as if fried and she had chain impressions on her neck.

Menma was probably the worse off with a seven feet long iron rod carrying impaling him through the chest; only narrowly missing his spine and carrying him five feet of the ground. The only things that were left of the top part of his outfit were a few tattered pieces of fabric clinging to his smoldered back as a result revealing an intricate seal array on his abdomen. Something in his body was slowly corroding the iron rod as all its attempts to heal the orange haired boy had been exercises in futility due to the foreign pole's presence.

Kōmori was surprisingly the only one still awake. He was on his knees and his bloodied head was on the first step and he was gritting his teeth in pain whilst clutching his burning right arm – it felt as if someone was currently firing a huge amount of electricity into his arm and had placed said arm into acid – all the while thinking, _'What in_ _Kyūketsuki dorakyura no chimamire no Na?..."_

\- (Flashback Start) - (30 minutes before) - (The Final - _Chimamire no Ken_ ) -

" _Okay Folks, we're here to watch the Finals of this amaaazing tournament; it's been a long way for the two finalists, mmm mmm, yes! Now, we're all assured of the Victory of the Yoru Kinshi against this mysterious individual who's been dubbed the KING OF THE RIIING!" Many screams were heard in acknowledgement of the very mysterious Reaper-esque character; that had left a path of near-dead fighters in his rise to the 'throne'. "Anyways, quiet down people... QUIET DOWN! Okay, now we will be having an all-out battle due to the sponsors' decision. Yes, yes this may seem unfair but it is what it is, and remember the more BLOOD THE MORE MERRIER IT IS!"_

 _As if on cue the Night Bandit team rushed into the Throne Room just before the Arena cut itself off from the entrance and appeared to be on a huge platform with fences floating around in space; needless to say the spectators balked at the sight as the ground below the platform was flooded like always – yet this time, the water took on a crimson hue._

" _Kōmori can you sense our opponent? None of us can see him…" Mia stated with confusion present in her voice._

" _He's…" A twitch of his head, "…He's…" Kōmori paused as if confused and started holding his hands to his ears. On closer inspection by Mia, said ears were found to be bleeding. Mia recoiled in horror at the sight as Kōmori looked at her strangely. "BEHIND YOU!" HE warned but it was in vain as Mia felt herself unable to speak as she was raised of her feet by her opponent and thrown into an incoming Menma causing both to tumble back._

 _After sometime, Kōmori felt the world around him set back into place with that horrible sound out of the way… But he should have focused on the individual waves of sounds instead of spreading so much and catching unwanted ones. He groaned and 'saw' Will being hurled away from their opponent and into Menma who caught him. He gave the team the order to regroup and hastened to get closer to his group._

 _As they were trying to work out a solid strategy their opponent spoke for the first time, "Twenty-five minutes…" The stranger shrouded in darkness drawled in the smoothest baritone Kōmori had ever heard._

 _At first Kōmori and his team didn't understand this but astoundingly Menma stiffened in anger as he clearly understood the message; their opponent was giving them a time frame at the end of which the battle would be for over for them. Menma tensely enlightened them and crouched into his trademark tiger stance being over the top with rage at the condescension of his opponent who spoke yet again,_

"… _You have five… minutes." He said coolly and halted every movement he made, Menma, being the hot-head that he was charged their aloof opponent, ignoring the warning from Kōmori, and threw a wild punch that would have taken the head off his opponent if he (the opponent) didn't slip out of the way effortlessly. He – Menma – finding himself unbalanced turned and threw a spinning back elbow into his opponent's face which was caught, "Pathetic… Predictable." Menma was incensed even as he fell to the ground from being pushed away, but before he could retaliate the hooded opponent had vanished and Will's extendable metal rod was in his place,_

" _Blasted imbecile, the boss expec's us ta attack together no' individually!" True to his languid team mate's words Kōmori had engaged their opponent in a melee battle with Mia providing support with a barrage of senbon._

 _Over at the middle of the ring, Kōmori heard the commentator say something along the lines of, the battle being in their favor but he just wasn't seeing it that way being in the middle of the fight. His opponent had blocked all his strikes and was deliberately causing Mia not to shoot by putting him in the way or quickly dodging around the projectiles letting them hit Kōmori if he, Kōmori, did not pause his attack and dodge too._

 _Kōmori was sure he had him when the hooded stranger vanished and the metal rod was once again in his place as Will attacked, their opponent reappeared on the rod and ran towards Will, running on the long metal rod. Once he reached the startled chūnin, he placed a foot on top the boy's head and jumped over the incoming Menma who had leapt towards him to place a flying kick._

 _Their opponent had turned his back on all of them and was slowly walking towards the throne. Mia darted at him when he was on the seventh step and tried to deliver an aerial axe kick, something that would be impossible for individuals without her flexibility, unfortunately her target caught her leg just as it brushed a bit of his hood aside showing eyes with almost no sclera and pupils so dark purple they made her feel as if she was being drawn into him._

 _He dropped her and took two more steps to get to the top and then turned to meet each of their gazes then uttered five words that spelled their doom, "…your five minutes… are up." Mia calmly sent a palm strike to his chest yet it was deflected harshly causing her to lose balance and plummet down. Before she hit the ground she felt a gloved palm, with at least two fingers covered, catch her by the forearm. The hand felt cold and for a while she was surprised at the smoothness and feel of the fabric blending with the coolness of his skin. Till…_

 _*Crrck*_

 _She felt something shoot up from her forearm and at first she was in shock at the absence of pain. There was supposed to be something there… wasn't there?_

 _Ah yes, there it was that searing pain that came from a piece of her bone breaking off from the main and long itself into her skin causing blood to flow._

 _She let out a scream and collapsed, tumbling to the ground yet she was still conscious and cognizant of the pain, "…end her misery…" she heard and saw through wet eyes that Kōmori was walking towards her and he reared her hand to strike._

" _Sorry, Mia, he is right, I cannot tolerate the sight of you in pain." Kōmori struck hard to put her out and 'watched' as her eyes closed and heard her whisper her thanks what he did not hear however was his opponent's knees nearing the back of his head,_

' _He called me Mia… without the polite tag!' The knee was caught by Will's open palm._

 _*WHUMP!*_

 _Will looked at his hurt palm in astonishment wondering what would have happened if he hadn't gotten here in time. Yet there was no time to wonder as the side of his opponent's hand came crashing down on his head, at least it would have. He displayed speed worthy of his rank and jumped back swiftly out of harm's way taking Kōmori with him._

 _Will would have attempted to attempt another dash to Mia's side but Kōmori stopped him. He decided to use his metal rod to get Mia from under their opponent who was under fire from Menma. Just as their opponent sweep-kicked Menma, the rod shot out from Will's bodysuit sleeve and tried to curl around Mia._

 _What he didn't expect was the hooded stranger catching the rod and puling will towards him. Will at first struggled but decide to go with the flow and discreetly charged a bit of chakra into his fist._

 _His foe pulled making the chūnin trip forward, jumped towards the incoming boy and slammed a quick fist into Will's face causing blood to fly out his nose and the his head to crash into the ground; hard enough to form a mini crater._

" _OOH, A broken nose… that will affect Will's pretty boy image… So far we've been on the edge of our seats and we're all wondering, what will happen NEXT?!"_

 _Will was startled at the sound of the commentator and even more startled at the fact that he had been so absorbed in the fight he hadn't heard the commentator all this while. Will felt light headed and he felt a pair of legs crawl around his arm and end at his shoulder with the same gloved hand that Mia had felt on his palm._

 _He felt nothing but pain as his shoulder was removed from its socket and ground his head into the floor and gnashed his teeth in pain. He also felt himself being drawn up by his hair by a chain till he was barely standing._

"… _Something for you…_ _Ritoru Nibai_ _(Little Double (1))…" With a barely audible sigh, the dark foe drew a Double-Kusarigama and executed two precise cuts in the middle of Will's chest and then he Push-kicked the chūnin into the far off fence._

" _WILL! You Bastard, you hurt Will!" Menma shrieked and charged at said darkness enshrouded bastard._

 _For a brief second, Kōmori and Menma could have sworn they 'saw'/saw a micro-flash of rage and annoyance flash through their opponent's sclera-absent, soul sucking eyes as he reverse-axe kicked_ _Menma into the sky and jumped to the airborne boy clutching Will's metal rod._

"… _me… a bastard? I guess you're right" He then slammed the rod into the boy's chest and extended it by passing a jolt of chakra through it till it slammed into the ground carrying the boy._

" _Raaargh…" Menma cried and clawed at the intruding pole in his chest, "Rra…." He tried to glare at his aggressor but found the strain on his neck too much so he had to alternate between watching him and Kōmori fight and letting his head fall back._

 _Speaking of their fight, Kōmori was gently evading the attacks of his opponent, having folded his cloak for better mobility, and having his own attack evaded, "You should make-" Kōmori was yet again interrupted as he had to bend backwards to evade palm strike from the other._

"… _you bent too-" He was also interrupted as he had to deflect Kōmori's kip up kick, making a flash of amusement flash through his eyes and he stomped the place where the boy had fallen again._

 _*Stomp* Kōmori attempted a sweep kick; his opponent jumped over and stomped even harder with his two feet._

 _*Stomp* Kōmori rolled out of the way and rose to his knees._

 _*Stomp* He was forced back down as he rolled out of the way of an axe stomp that left a crater where it hit; Kōmori winced._

 _*Stomp* *Stomp* *Stomp* *Stomp*_

 _He continued to stomp and the boy below him continued to roll away from him._

 _Kōmori swiftly executed a handstand after throwing a senbon that he found on the floor at his stomping assailant, who jumped back, far back. Kōmori gasped slightly as he saw the Arena and his team mates were shrouded in dark mist, most likely connected to his foe's own mist, and probably spread through the stomping. He saw it crawling up his supporting arm but he drove it off with a small sound wave using his other arm and had to keep standing on that right arm. As a result the mist became denser around his arm._

" _Ah… you should always let it spread… oh well," The hooded stranger warned and went through fifty hand seals in that short time frame and Kōmori's eyes widened in realization. "…_ _Raiton: Don'yoku_ _(Lightning style: Greed) (2)" Kōmori's eyes became misty as he saw Menma struggle on the rod letting him slide further down; as he saw Will sitting immobile against the fence covered by the mist; as he saw Mia lying with a little mist covering her body due to her distance from the main source_

 _He slammed his opened palm into the murky floor and dark lightning crackled from it and spread through the mist. Kōmori would have shouted out, yet he knew it would do nothing. He was right but he did not feel right; the mist was some kind of potent conductor of the lightning._

 _Some of said lightning charged rabidly towards the rod and split upwards and around when it hit the metal rod. It greedily consumed only Menma's torso as the mist had not fully spread and devoured his shirt and body leaving scorch marks and bits of clothing in its trail. Menma screamed out loud as he was hurt repeatedly by the lightning. If he tried to convulse it would make him slide further down the pole and if he didn't the pain would seemingly break him._

 _It charged towards Will and harshly electrocuted the boy causing smoke from burnt skin to waft through the air. The wood behind him kept him from being totally burnt alive but it still hurt and the boy convulsed where he sat. It aggravated his shoulder causing him much more pain._

 _As for Mia, she was dealt with sparsely as the mist did not have a chance to envelop her fully. Yet she felt the pain through and through and also convulsed._

 _Kōmori's arm was not something to laugh about as it was smoldered with all the fabric having disappeared, or rather burnt away. His folded cloak fell on his arm and it took some of the brunt but it wasn't enough; Kōmori crashed to the ground losing balance._

 _There was a sound as if a gas was being forced back into a bottle and the sound finally ended with a pop. Then Kōmori realized the mist had returned to its owner and the lightning had disappeared._

 _Kōmori sent a wave of ultrasound around to survey the area. It was horrible; with the ground where the lightning travelled, having been charred and blackened by the intense lightning. The rod leading to Menma's body was also charred and his torso was smoldering with pieces of fabric left on the back due to sheer heat._

 _Will wasn't doing too well but he was finally immobile with the occasional jolt._

 _Mia was lying still and had traces of lightning dancing around her bleeding arm._

 _It was then that he heard the silence… yes the only sound that permeated the air was the sound of some people eating pop corn as they stared. And he also smelt the stench of the burnt flesh causing him to scrunch his nose in disgust._

 _Kōmori was slightly startled when he felt a pull on his undone hair, the feeling of being dragged all the way to the stairs of the Throne Room Arena. He cried out as he felt his head hit the first step and blood began to leak out from somewhere._

"… _bow…" Kōmori did not have the strength to move as he felt all strength drain from him and he felt pain tear through his arm causing him to clutch as if to stem the pain._

\- (Flashback End) -

' _What in_ _Kyūketsuki dorakyura no chimamire no Na just happened?'_

Kōmori tried to stay awake, truly he did. He could feel Menma slowly healing and it wouldn't be long till he regained consciousness. But it was a foolish thought, he couldn't do anything… This guy was too powerful. Before Morpheus took him, he heard the crowd erupt in ear-splitting cheers.

\- (In the Konoha Main Hospital) - (Around Dawn Next Day) -

The members of the Yoru Kinshi were lying peacefully in their beds in room number 80 in the semi-intensive care unit with specially treated bandages covering up most of their burnt parts. Kōmori had already awakened, strange of him as he instinctively hated the dawning but Menma was snoring like… like…

He covered his ears and then felt a familiar presence besides him, "Soră (3)! You are back… You are back!" He tried to hug her but the pain shot through his head as his sister put an index finger to his forehead and lowered his head back to the pillow.

"Hey, lipitoare (4), how are you doing?" She asked stroking his head, pulling away strands of Kōmori's dark purple hair from his bandaged forehead.

"Ah… I am doing okay, apart from some pains in my cranium and some fabulous burns on my right arm; I'm totally at peace..." Kōmori paused, "Where is mother?"

"Oh her, she had a meeting, terribly pissed off at them for it, if I might add, but there is talk of there being a new Hokage…" She resumed and soon the normally quiet Kōmori was chatting away to his sister, asking her about her long-term missions and stuff like that.

Groaning at the noise of talking and the sunlight passing through the hospital blinds, Mia woke groggily and turned her head to where the noise was coming from; it was actually two noises. The noise of Menma snoring and that of Kōmori and some Royal-Purple haired girl talking as if they were familiar with each other. She felt a jolt of jealousy shoot through her but she caged it when the girl, who was now chuckling, turned and looked at her. Mia blushed as she felt the full intensity of the girl's gaze on her.

Now that she had turned her face, Mia had a better view of the girl. She had Royal Purple colored hair with two thick black stripes running along the edges and being allowed to drop towards her shoulders with two black bangs being allowed to fall in front of her double-pierced ears and a braided right side. She was quite like Kōmori, with the heart like face and rich ridged mouth yet with much more smooth and slight aristocratic facial features, her baby fat having been completely trimmed by age. She had a rather dainty turn-up nose with a black right high nostril piercing and two spider bite studs under her lower lip. She had a purple eye shadow with black eyeliner on and thin eyebrows. She also had a dark purple lipstick on the outside, complimenting her eyeliner and eye shadow. This was the only makeup she wore as she seemed proud of her naturally pale face like all Māddoku were.

When she rose, Mia noticed the fact that the girl was far taller than Kōmori standing at a full five feet eight inches. The girl's knee high boots blended with her Bats Leggings. She wore a dark violet ¾ sleeve pointelle cardigan that was cropped to show her navel; with a forearm length purple mitts showing of perfect fingernails. This also revealed a small name tattoo on her navel covered in tattoo vines; Mia couldn't really see the name. She also had a simple chain choker on with a seemingly sentient black and red bat token.

She looked to be about seventeen and Mia noted, with no small amount of jealousy, that the girl had firm 32C cup size breasts under her cardigan and yet she was not filled out totally, taking to a more lean build. When Mia was about to observe more the girl spoke in a slightly accented accent,

"You know it is not good to stare… you may have other urges, vhich are totally normal by the vay, but it is not good to stare," The girl said putting dark sunglasses over her narrow eyes whilst Mia sputtered at the implication, "I am Antanasi, by the vay, and I hear from my frate drăguț (5) that you are… Mia?" She resumed almost leeringly and when said girl nodded tentatively Antanasi leaned in slowly and said a few words to Mia making sure even Kōmori didn't hear them.

Soon after Mia became red with discomfiture and Antanasi reverted to her standing position like nothing happened. As the gothic girl walked back, it seemed Will had chosen that very moment to wake up and asked groggily,

"Where… What the… Who the-" The boy didn't finish as he was busy staring at Antanasi's well shaped rear through her leggings till,

"Stop looking at my ass or I vill impale you…" She threatened sanguinely and continued to walk towards her brother to continue talking to him.

"W-who's the Go'h chick?" Will quizzed still stealing glances at the red-haired girl in the chair besides Kōmori's bed. Before Mia could answer,

"My name is Antanasi and who might you be, 'Lăbar'?" The girl asked withholding the fact that she already knew what his name was. And the fact that she had surreptitiously impugned him.

As for Will, he seemed to have only focused on the strange word, "Sorry, lebar?"

To his chagrin, Kōmori responded, "Oh she called you a Lăbar… it would roughly translate to…" his last word was faint causing Antanasi to shoot him a beguiled look and Will, an obstinate one.

"Speak up, draga frate (dear brother) or vould you prefer the poor labagiu vallow in his ignorance?" Kōmori shot a strained look at her cursing his big mouth and Will adopted a peeved look,

"Look we all know you chaps have go' a differen' language and all bu'… wait… are you taking a crack a' me?"

"Yes I believe it vould roughly translate as vanker… both vords. Now I did ask you for your name did I not?"

"I am Will D. Somo, the mos' badass person you are ever gonna meet, normally I would be a' your service but I refuse to be a' the hands of a mare!" Will paused for good measure, "Now as I'm still a bi' knackered from the treatment, I think I'm going to nod out…"

Antanasi scoffed at his first statement "Did he just call me a scroafă?" At Kōmori's nod she asked again, "Please tell me vhy I should not kill this…" She stopped and adopted a thoughtful look and then said, "He is not vorth the time."

"What's a scroafă?" This time it was Mia, who asked the question,

"A bitch, Mia dear, it means bitch." Antanasi said..

After an hour of small talk, two attendants brought in trays loaded with food and set a small table on the occupied hospital beds for the food. Predictably Will and Menma shot up as soon as the smell of the cooked breakfasts hit their noses.

Kōmori had a Kamairicha, liking the taste, scrambled eggs, bread and cheese whilst complimenting his slight sweet tooth with a chec marmorat and a vanilla shake.

Will had a cup of coffee, slices of ham and scrambled eggs with bread and cheese.

Mia ate a simple meal of oatmeal porridge with lots of milk and bread and completed it with a small cup of Melon juice.

For Menma, well the orange haired scoundrel had a voracious appetite and a bottomless stomach virtually inhaling strips of bacon, cuts of steak, slices of bread, fruit juice, scrambled eggs, rice porridge all that was available. If anyone saw this, the person would think the boy had been stranded on an island with only coconuts for a few weeks.

In a few minutes the parents of Mia entered the hospital room and rushed to their daughter's side and repeatedly fussing over her. She held in an eye roll; her parents could be such the den mothers at different times and then be strict teachers at another. Dewa and Nakano Ryūketsu were the middle aged parents of Mia and the current heads of the Ryūketsu family. They were superb in the use of their Saiketsu and many had fallen to heart attacks in battle with both of them in the recent war.

Now they were transferring those teachings to their daughter already having taught her twin older brothers and countless nieces and nephews who were orphaned by The K.A event.

"Are you okay Mia, we got the call yesterday and we would have come earlier but we had to attend the emergency meetings." Her mother explained.

"Yes daughter, we're so sorry for not coming sooner, but how are you doing?" Her father continued.

As the two talked, one Faith D. Somo entered the room and rushed to her son, Will who was patting a full belly, "Are you okay, honey?" She asked bottom lip quivering.

"Yes mum, please don' cry I wasn' going ta die or anything like tha'. I'm too awesome to do that." He assured his mother who hugged the boy.

Faith D. Somo was not a kunoichi, not too far from it as she kept a fit shape but a physical combatant she was not. She was the number two fabric and clothes merchant, losing the number One spot to the Haruno clan's business. She was rather high on the economic and social ladder, having reached here through rather brutal means of acquiring merchandise 'honestly', an eye for good deals and ruthlessness as well as a keen smell for promising merchandise. So she was well of being fairly… okay… a lot rich. She had been quite composed when she received a call from the hospital saying that her boy was in their care. After all, she would receive calls like this from her husband's manager. Her husband was an official bodyguard to the mayor of the town of Tanzaku Gai, so she was proud to say all the males in her life could take pain well.

But she was rather startled at the intensity of his wounds and couldn't wait to visit him after the emergency meeting was called.

The small noirette tended to bear over her boy but she couldn't help it and this event just worsened it in Will's case. She repeatedly yet delicately touched her boy's forehead for traces of a fever. Her great-grandparents having moved here from Tropic-Islands caused their family to retain a rather dark complexion. It seemed Will's generation had adapted to Konohagakure's climate and so had adopted a lighter complexion; although he was the lightest in complexion amongst his two older sisters. At least they had all gained their father's height; he was originally from the Land Of Lightning.

"Wait… if all of you are here then that means…" Will paused leaving the parents and Menma confused and sewing a feeling of unease into the other youth.

"Mamă is also coming…" The Mādukko present said despondently and simultaneously causing Menma to catch on and start trembling in suspense,

"Wait you two are Saigō's children? Oh Kami and you're hurt on top of everything…" Dewa Ryūketsu said scratching his broad chin with the chin strap beard. He was thinking he could protect his family but the rest would probably die. Then Faith blanched and asked her boy,

"Wait… those two are the children of the scary bat demoness?" She was not being disrespectful or biased but the woman was…

*KA-BLAM!*

…here, the scary bat demoness was officially here after knocking the poor door loose of the hinges, her leg still hanging in its push kick position.

"Hi mamă, how was your meet-"

"Taci (6)! Who's the bloody tâmpit (7) that did this to you?" The woman queried walking up to her son's bed. The occupants of the room blanched at the bloodthirsty woman who was walking slowly towards her son.

She like all Mādukko had a rather pale complexion but years on the battlefield under scorching sun and harsh weather had given her a much tanned touch. She had alluring blood-red lips and was believed to have obtained them from the gallons of blood she had taken in over the years. Her purple hair reached the middle of her back and had two rather long and pointed ear-like projections sticking out near on top her head and moving back towards her occiput. She only had a touch of purple eye shadow over her eyes. One of which had a purple iris in a red sclera and the other a total black void/sclera-pupil combination. The claw scars were present yet slightly faded due to time and travelled to her ears. Her features were slightly unlike her children with a pair of fangs sticking out over her bottom lip on opposite sides and narrowed eyes complete with the narrow chin and refined medium sized nose.

She was clad in a black plain Inked Misfit Corset Back T-Shirt revealing a bit of her firm D-cup bosom. Under it were black leggings with a short skirt over it covering a fine set of hips fit for a mother and kunoichi. Complete with 1" Ankle Combat Boots with Laces and a kunai pouch at her right directly under her thigh-length skirt.

"Ow, Ow, Ow, Mamâ, ma-" Kōmori cried out as his ear was pulled to bring him to eye level with his mother causing him severe pains in his head,

"Mamâ! Stop that his head hurts!" Kōmori's sister came to his aid. His mother dropped him looking guilty and quickly changed moods from angry to caring causing the other parents to sweat drop as the mother caressed her son who, they were sure, she was about to scold.

They blanched and turned around when she said, "What are you people looking at?!" When they were finally minded their own business she muttered, "Damn nosy humans…" Then she grinned, showing off two rows of fangs.

Soon they had all quieted down and hours passed with only Mia's father leaving to attend to business and Will's oldest sister, a prospective secretary for the new Hokage, coming to visit him as her agent had given her leave.

It was around midday when they heard a knock on the door and Antanasi rose to answer it revealing a blond man in the Hokage robes turning slowly to face her,

"You are…"

\- (Later That Night) - (Police Raid on Human Trafficking Base) -

Officer Tomy Fujioka was ready to blow up anything that moved as he trekked through the flashlight lit hallway, with his partner, towards the stairs leading to the dungeon. He walked slowly trying to muffle the sound of the stairs creaking. The place was creepy and he wanted to go back outside but if their source was correct then there were a bunch of girls in the dungeon ready to be transported out of fire country tomorrow.

He finally got down the stairs and waited for his partner to get down. He saw the gate and approached it; he saw a group of about twenty girls in the cage with the gate unlocked but it was closed and the girls were trembling with fright.

"Are you okay?… Can you hear me?… Stay calm, I'm going to open the-"

"It still here… saved us!" A daring girl in the front said with fear in her voice making Tomy stop.

"Who saved you?" He queried,

"Akuma; a demon!" The girl said again in fear whilst backing away as Tomy came closer. As he tried to open the gate the girls slammed it close startling him and making him raise an eyebrow, "It's still here…" The girl warned ominously and Tomy heard a noise from upstairs and turned to the stairs as dirt fell from the ceiling.

' _What the hell is that?'_ He thought as he walked up the stairs, kunai launcher in hand; the kunai launchers were a slightly new weapon having been introduced to the Konoha Keimu Butai, or the Konoha Military Police Force. Its blueprints had been brought in by a mysterious benefactor after the new head had taken over and their tech department had made copies with a few improvements.

He held the launcher at shoulder level and tilted his head slightly to look into the rear sight; giving him the feeling of being in one of those arcade first person shoot-em-up horror games. The launcher had a larger capacity and they had upgraded the cartridge with a complex seal array allowing the launcher to be reloaded faster. He also had a small pistol crossbow and a small dagger on his belt but he was not using them.

He walked through a doorway and saw a tortured man, who he recognized as Sven Yakubovich, tied to a radiator and with his head down. He rushed to the man to check his pulse and found the man to still be alive and, when the man looked up, conscious.

He followed the bleeding man's stare to the top right corner of the room and saw a person in a black spike-hooded bodysuit under a carmine red short-sleeved – with black high-collars – jacket and a long staff strapped to his back, holding himself up to the ceiling. He fired two kunai causing the person to jump away – shifting the hood back a little to reveal a demonic-looking skull mask – and around the dark room with expert agility. Thinking quickly, Tomy fired into the person's most likely route but the flexible stranger aerial cart-wheeled over it over it and kept daring around the place.

He fired more kunai chasing shadows around and finally stopping when the person jumped out a window besides the stairs. His partner narrowly dodged the last kunai and yelled at him,

"Hey, you nearly took my eye out!"

"I saw it… the demon…" He said staring out of the window as his partner brushed past him and hurried to the tortured man and noticed something on his forehead,

"Hey Tomy, come… look at that…" Tomy looked and did a double-take as the burnt-in symbol there…

…a skull facing slightly away with spikes leading out of the sides of the cheekbones and another jutting out in place of the chin, with a smaller one on each side of the chin spike. It had an hourglass symbol in a drop of water between its eye sockets. The eye sockets were like L's rotated by 270˚ on the right and 90˚ on the left. The pupils were like orbs in the helmet-like holes and they (8)...

 _Looked back._

\- (Konoha Time-Lines – Headline) -

Police Bust Trafficking Ring On 3rd street Kabukichō; Side Story: Demonic Skull's Brand Of Justice, New Crime Boss Or Criminal Hindrance.

 _Followed by a picture of the two officers escorting the tortured man to their mopeds._

\- (Konoha News Network – Breaking News)

"We have received news of a rather successful trafficking bust by the police; although according to a minor, we have reason to believe they were assisted by a vigilante we are now calling him 'Grim'…"

\- (Two Nights Later – Sunday) -

Five men and a mysterious individual were sitting in the agura and seiza fashion on cushions around a low oval table with chips on it. They were in a private room in the Gin Casino with two assistants besides each of the five men and a bodyguard at the door.

"I'll raise to fifty k. Ryō…" Masahi Takena, in tobi trousers tucked into his socks and no top on scarred chest, said aggressively looking at the very small number of chips he had and the hand he had; he was sweating profusely and planning to kill the stranger who had engaged them in a high-stake game of poker,

"You do not have enough chips for that Takena-sama…" The dealer said to the man who glanced at him angrily and said,

"I'll throw in my four-star restaurant; put a figure on tha' for me, will ya!" He said angrily throwing a small title-deed scroll into his stacks of chips causing the dealer to nod and give him some of his chips back, bringing the pot up to sixty thousand ryō.

"Call…" Noburo Ando, in his blue yukata with golden trimmings under black silky hair, said calmly, with only a slight tweak in his visage showing he had a good hand too; this raised the pot to one hundred and ten thousand ryō.

"Check…" Tadamasa Goto said calmly in his grey hakama and sleeveless blue haori as he held his cards close to his white-bearded face.

"Hmm… I'll fold" Yoshino Kobe said placing his cards o the table face down and folding his muscled arms across his chest, his bald head shining under the light.

"Hihihi… All in; Hundred and fifty thousand ryō and both my pubs… hihi," Dong Cheng, in his brown gambler hat, flowery short-sleeved dress shirt and super-tight jeans, said raising the pot to five hundred thousand and eighty thousand ryō; one pub costing two thousand and twenty thousand ryō and the other, one thousand approximately.

"Sir…" The dealer prodded hesitantly when the stranger in the Midnight Black Double Collar Jumper Hoodie Jacket with grey cuffs, white dress shirt with a black necktie and dark-blue jeans; complete with dark sunglasses and black fingerless gloves. The inside hood was raised so it obscured his face from being seen too much but they could see his pale skin and handsome features. "…sir?"

"Hm… I think I'll put all in…" the stranger said, the corners of his mouth turning up. He pushed all his chips in front of him showing his bet.

"T-t-t-that's… that raises t-the p-p-pot to a million, six hundred and one thousand ryō," The players and dealer stuttered in chorus as everybody in the room went wide eyed; except our mysterious stranger.

"Flush…" Masahi said getting over his stupor and folding his arms in satisfaction… that is until Noburo Ando spoke,

"Flush, Ace-king-high, eat that!" The rival bosses glared at each other till they heard Tadamasa Goto say,

"I also have a flush but it is an ace-ten-high…"

"Hihihi, I have a Full house! Hihi… nine-nine-nine-five-five!" He said reaching for the chips,

"You should lower your hand, rock spider; I have Full house that beats yours: Triple Ace, Double Queen. Bring in the chips please…" The stranger said motioning to the chips.

\- (One Biased Poker Game Later) -

"'Ey buddy, do's you got som' change for an ol' drunk," A grey-bearded man said stumbling up to our stranger and holding out his hand in desperation.

"…"Our handsome stranger stared away from the man, raising his hands to his back,

"Buddy?" The man repeated fear in his tone,

The stranger rolled his eyes and he dug his hands into his backpack and withdrew a wad of ten ryō notes; a hundred to be exact, "Here… buddy, do go take care of yourself…" He shoved the thousand ryō into the man's hand, leaving a very shocked dipsomaniac behind.

He smiled to himself as he walked through the rain for some few minutes, whispering things to himself. Soon he stopped in a familiar yet abandoned dark alley,

"I've gone through here already… oh dear it seems I'm lost. Whoever shall I ask; maybe you gentlemen… would like to help?" He turned around and sat on the pavement by the left building.

The men started to file out of the connecting alleys in grey rain jackets.

"Whoa, whoa, whatever did I do to displease so many different men; not uncommon to displease a large number but not this-"

"Shaddup, Our bosses wants their money back and we gonna get it; the hard-"

The substitute leader of this gang of cruel amalgamation of men from different gangs whose bosses where angry at our stranger, shut up when the stranger muttered something to himself and he had to strain himself to hear the words that were muttered,

"What's he saying man?" One of the gang members asked,

"I don't know; he's probably bonkers!" The leader said growling and scratching the scar going through his temples. "ANYWAYS, as I was saying we gonna get it; the hard – GURK –"

"You interrupted me twice, 1 says to kill you; V says… she doesn't care; Ugly Mug agrees with 1." Our stranger said coldly as he pushed the sickles of a Double Kusarigama (9) into the neck of the rude man, having darted onto him at inhuman speeds. He leapt off the man's body throwing himself back to relative safety and the rapidly dying man into his former subordinates.

"You Killed Renjū, YOU BASTARD!" A supposed friend screamed out, as he knelt by his friend's body,

"Hmmm, People must be watching a lot of SasuPāku… I believe I'll go with 1's suggestion – Kage Bunshin No Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)…" Fifteen replicas appeared in a gust of wind and smoke and quickly hurried around the alley.

The stranger was still outnumbered four to one as the gangsters convinced themselves the length of the chain was short.

"Now come face your death… Uzu Odori O Sakusei Shimasu (Vortex Dance Created (10))!" The stranger said in his loudest voice, they had heard (which was still a lot low) that night, swinging his scythes in seemingly random movements around his body. That is, till the clones started doing the same things and moving. The scythe's blade started ricocheting off each other as their chains lengthened. Then the dance of the vortex started and blood poured out.

"We should help them from-ayah!" That man got his leg cut off causing him to fall off the second building at the right of the alley as the clones' sickles started bouncing off the walls and to the roofs.

*Splat!*

"Should we let their numbers thin out it will be a boon to – Gurk" This man got a bit further before his lower digestive system was crushed into mush by a random chain,

The smarter ones took out their pistol crossbows and started shooting at the clones… that is till they lose their hands or eyes or legs _or_ heads.

"That mother – aack" His head was split medially and you know we cannot allow foul,

"Come and get it… you Motherfuckers!" Aha… spoke too soon, Oh well let's get back to it.

A man was currently and successfully dodging the attacks, using tonfas he had on him to throw the chains of course. He would have jumped to the side to evade an inevitable attack coming; _would have_ being the key word. He didn't take into consideration the sickle snaking towards his neck from behind. Another head with a grim visage landed on the floor.

*Swish*

*Crack*

*Squelch*

Heads removed from shoulders;

Bones cracked and moved into impossible positions;

Heads mashed against the brick walls of the buildings;

Bodies turned into slices of… bodies.

When he was done, there were no clones left and blood was the new paint, heads and eyes were the latest ornaments, wet body-mush covered the street like some kind of red mud and the smell,

"Oh… I do love the smell of blood in the morning… but it's not morning," He pouted under the hood and wiped off, his shoulder, a piece of blood the rain had missed, "Always wanted to wipe something off my shoulder…" He then started whistling something eerily akin to _Black Skinhead_ as his head bobbed from one side to another.

\- (Konoha Time-Lines – Headline) -

DISGUSTING SIGHT FOUND IN ALLEY – ALLEY ReNAMED DEAD ALLEY – VICTIMS' REMAINS IDENTIFIED AS Reddopoppu (Red Pop) AND Hankon Inu (Scarred Dog) GANG MEMBERS!  
Our journalists state that this could be a calculated attack by our newest vigilante (Grim) as...

 _Followed the picture of the scarred alleyway with the Hokage standing in the middle looking up at the roofs with ANBU members looking down…_

\- (A Week Later) -

"Bring in the girl! I'm feeling bored!" Masahi Takena yelled to his bodyguard in his comfortable office chair in his rather extravagant office

Soon a teen girl in a skimpy outfit came, or was rather dragged, into the room and pushed onto the carpeted floor. She quickly backed towards the rapidly closing door and tried to get out; it was locked shut much to her dismay.

Masahi stood up and walked slowly to the teenage girl who pressed her back into the door, repeatedly trying the door handle. He caressed her face and pushed her to her knees then he undid her belt.

She pushed him away – or tried to – with her tired arms and ran to the window. She felt a tug on her ponytail and received a slap to her face in retaliation and a fist to the abdomen causing her to double over in front of the man's hair covered phallus. She scrunched her nose in disgust from the smell and tried to get a breath of fresh hair,

"Please… Stop I-" Her mouth was filled before she could continue and the man on top of her groaned in pleasure as he grabbed her head and moved it back and forth. When he was done he pushed her away as she puked all over his carpeted floor with tears in her eyes, "W-why m-m-me?" She sobbed,

"Because I wanna and I'm gonna… NOW BEG!" He started punching her when the girl refused to beg, all he got were sobs.

*CRRAASSHH!*

Masahi felt himself being thrown into a wall and he felt blood trickle from his head and tasted it in his mouth.

He looked up and saw a male standing over him and could only stare.

The person was in a hooded Dark purple full bodysuit with silver lines dancing in an intricate pattern around the arms, a carmine red short-sleeved jacket with a black high collar. He had on elbow length black fingerless (index and middle covered) gloves with blood red lines forming where the silver lines stopped forming runes on the back of his hand and continuing to the fingers like roots of a tree. He also had a silver skull buckle showing where the jacket parted indicating the presence of a belt; complete with identical eerie black cuffs with chains attached (the older version used on prisoners).

All he could see of the face was a mouth set in a thin line as if the person was displeased with him and purple orbs, then the scary person turned and he saw the huge double bladed scythe on his back; the scythe's snath was pitch black, it curved inwards leading to the top blade which had a red inside and black outline with a spikes behind it – it curved inwards slightly towards the bottom blade which was curved with black and purple color scheme but this one had a skull on top (or rather below).

"How far did he go?" He asked the crying girl as he crouched over her, and gave her a bottle of water from nowhere to wash her mouth; she gulped it greedily after washing her mouth using half the bottle giving him the answer,

"Why ain't my guards coming in?!" Masahi cried angrily as he pounded his assist button having snapped out of his stupor till the door creaked open and one of his guards fell through the door, "HOW DARE YOU? Do you KNOW WHO – AAAAGH"

The man was quickly held to the wall to the left of his massive office by protracted chains which flew from the man's left cuff; the chains tightened his limbs and chest so much it broke bones.

"My dear lady would you like to kill him like he did your parents and sister?" He asked as he handed her a rolled up scroll with different melee weapons on it, "Or shall I-" He stopped when the girl rushed onto the man and started to stab him repeatedly with a trench knife causing blood to splatter across her face.

He caught her as she started to laugh and fall back and hugged her as she cried pitiably into his shoulder; he awkwardly rubbed her back and patted her head. The young girl fell asleep on his shoulder and he was forced to put her down as he liquidated, or rather absorbed, all of the Scarred Dog assets on Masahi's computer. Elsewhere he was doing the same thing.

He tried to leave but the now awake girl pleaded with him, "Oh man, another stray… Geiru is going to kill me…"

\- (Konoha Time-Lines – Headline) -

Leaders of the Notorious Hankon Inu and Reddopoppu Gang Found Brutally Murdered in their Office; Both Gangs falls into Nothingness.

\- (A Fortnight Later) -

\- (Konoha Court Room No. 5) - (Child Abuse Case) -

"The court finds Dong Chen guilty of sexually abusing a minor and sentences him to thirty years imprisonment in the Burakkumaunten Kenkyūjo (11)! Also on counts of heading criminal activities; Labor for seventy years!" The judge declared and said man struggled as the guards took him away.

His prosecutor, a brown haired woman in glasses with a beauty mark right under the left side of her lips, glared at him as they sent him out; everybody was disgusted at the man… so disgusted they failed to notice the strange stranger in a black suit sitting cross-legged in the back of the courtroom.

\- (Burakkumaunten Kenkyūjo – Two Days Later) -

"Shinji Takanashi, please go to the visiting room NOW!" A voice announced over the prison's P.A system as the said man lay in his bed. He quickly dressed up and thinking it was his sister, smiled a bit; she always paid him surprise visit.

He had always been respected as a quiet man who helped others; looking back at recent events he had no qualms about killing the ones he hated – killed his family murderers after his family was… well, murdered in cold blood. A killer with a heart, the other inmates referred to him as.

"Hello Shinji-san… I have a preposition for you," Shinji's smile quickly fell as he saw that this was not his sister but he was a bit interested, curiosity took over caution and he found himself asking a question,

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"I am known as Diaborosu Gei and I want you to kill a man," he said calmly and gestured for Shinji to have a seat,

"I'll remain standing if that is okay with you…" Shinji said not fully trusting the man.

"Oh don't mind if I do then," He sat down and handed Shinji a thick envelope,

"Noburo Ando?"

"Yes… he has been convicted on charges of sexual abuse a twelve year old boy. Knowing your hate for these kinds of people I want you to… off him for me. You will be giving enough time to do it as the warden's been suborned and will give you enough time to do the deed. Your sentence will also be reduced and as a bonus you receive a pack or two of exquisite cigarettes; I know you are a closet smoker."

"Okay… I'll do it."

\- (Konoha Time-Lines – Headline) -

VENDETTA OR ACCIDENT: DEATH OF CONVICTED GANG LEADER IN PRISON.

 _Coupled with pictures of the late Noboru Ando._

\- (Konoha News Network) -

"We have seen a lot of deals in our many years but this is one we never thought we would see. An alliance has been publicly formed between the two remaining Yakuza boss and the police to put down this new vigilante – Grim – or is he a killer out for revenge?" A slightly mature looking woman in a black tailcoat with red linings and ponytailed mud brown hair said.

\- (Konoha News Channel 3) -

"What is going on in our fine village; since when did our officials start making open deals with our Local Yakuza. This damages the integrity of the Konoha _Keimu Butai_ very badly… I cannot believe this has happened!" A man in a white business suit ranted with pictures of the public deal taking place on the big screen behind him.

\- (A Few Days After the Alliance) - (Konoha Secret Bunker) -

There were few thousand people stationed at this bunker; both police and gang members. The bunker itself had three levels with the last being a rather grand yet sealed room in front of the stairs that led down.

Yoshino Kobe and Tadamasa Goto were sitting in the room on the lower level awaiting the killer they knew was coming… but they weren't going down without a fight.

Yoshino Kobe was in padded sweatpants with knuckledusters on his hand and a pistol crossbow.

Tadamasa Goto was in standard Samurai armor from his old days with a Katana strapped to his side. He wore no headgear but he covered his head in bandages.

They had stationed in front of their massive room, twelve of their most elite.

In four hours they knew their killer was here when they heard the loud screams of war; what they didn't know was it was between their soon-to-be killer's clones that were doing this as he snuck downstairs. They heard the yells and grunts of their elite guards as they fought the opposing army.

Soon a body broke down through the door; it no longer resembled a human being.

"So you've finally-" Yoshino was forced to deflect the chain sickle that threatened to remove his eye.

"Five thousand people? You motherfuckers had five thousand people fight yours truly? You're so going to die today!" He swung the chains at Yoshino who jumped over the first sickle but got hit by the chains of the second sickle causing him to fly back a few meters. "Here catch!" He threw his weapon to a clone and took out a double bladed scythe that seemed to absorb light and was longer than him.

He started spinning the scythe and held it in a strange position. He held the scythe besides him with his right hand and crouched forward slightly indicating his readiness to attack.

Tadamasa quickly rushed the person with speed impressive for a man his age. He executed a Vertical Draw Strike at an incredible speed. It was deflected by an upward block from the smaller opponent who then executed a rotational sweep kick coupled with an upward swing from the down blade causing the old man to jump back.

Yoshino quickly jumped in and delivered a strong left hook that would surely have knocked the scythe from his opponent's hands… if he hadn't dodged. He found himself flying further than he wanted and into a clone's foot causing him to feel pain in his face.

If not for Tadamasa putting his katana in the way of his opponent's scythe's blade he (Yoshino) would have died from impalement.

"Thanks old man!" He muttered as he jumped up and tried to punch their opponent who was still struggling with Tadamasa in the face; he succeeded…

*POOF*

' _When did he?'_

The real scythe user came from behind and it took the combined efforts of Tadamasa and Yoshino for both to survive as their opponent started getting serious.

It was a standstill with the three. Sadly for our stranger, Tadamasa reacted first and dealt an armored foot into his face causing him to fly out the door.

He rushed back with equal rage and executed a crazy swing with the scythe as if it had one blade whilst pivoting on his heels. The scythe revolved around its user as he went round and round whilst coming forward. Yoshino would have gotten an uppercut in but the guy just picked up speed and soon he was approaching a dangerous speed for them; as he could control his direction.

"HAHAHAHAHA, ROUND AND ROUND WE GO!" He said in a rather windy voice as smaller objects started to move towards him.

* t'chi* A bolt was let loose from the pistol crossbow,

*SSS-SNAP* It was broken,

*T'chi-T'chi-T'chi-T'chi-T'chi* More bolts,

*SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-* you get the gist of it.

Soon the bolts were part of the mini tornado, broken parts, "OI, OLD MAN! I'M OUTTA WEAPONS… I'LL HAVE TO SLINGSHOOT YOU TOWARDS HIM!" Yoshino warned over the wind and when the old man nodded he picked him up and swung the man towards the tornado of blades.

*CLANK!*

*SHNK!*

The tornado stopped alright but the older man was left weaponless as his katana's blade was broken into multiple pieces and defenseless as our stranger performed an overhand strike laughing gleefully. Tadamasa closed his eyes awaiting his death.

But it was not so as Yoshino took the blade for him through the shoulder and kicked our stranger away yet again. As the blood spurted out from the large gash and he knelt he muttered, "Stupid Old man…"

Tadamasa caught him and dragged him to a cabinet at the other side of the office which from it, he took a special bandage which was immersed in slug juice, a healing substance.

"AARRGH!"

It also burnt like hell fire to someone with semi-high pain tolerance; someone like Yoshino,

"Oh be quiet you big baby!" Tadamasa said as he bandaged the gash making the bandage red. He had to complete multiple layers before the white stayed intact.

"Thanks," Yoshino muttered and almost instantaneously our stranger ran back into the room.

"I propose a fair battle, a fistfight, do you accept?" He threw his scythe away and the two partners looked at each other before nodding and settling into stances, "One minute – KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU" A clone popped into existence and settled into a stance as the opponents stared incredulously, "What it's unfair as it is… Wow, now I know how the ladies feel"

"Enough talk… Let's fight!" Yoshino rushed forwarded and delivered a quick one-two combo followed by an axe kick. The attacks were dodged and he received a palm heel strike to the ribs sending him back.

Tadamasa dodged a push kick and retaliated with a sweep kick which was jumped over. Whilst in the air his opponent came sown in an axe kick form causing the older man to scramble back.

Yoshino soon got back-to-back with Tadamasa and they exchanged partners by ducking and turning under flying back kicks from their opponents.

Yoshino rushed his opponent whilst he was turning and delivered a swift uppercut to his face causing him to fly up; Yoshino caught his legs and slammed him into the ground forcing the rather resilient clone to dispel.

Tadamasa however was knocked over by a Leg Lariat executed beautifully. He was then thrown into Yoshino giving him a concussion from sheer impact.

They both groaned as their attacker leaped towards them. He started to stomp Tadamasa chest piece with enough strength to dent it and cause real damage. When Yoshino held his leg, he delivered swift kicks upside said man's head causing him to drop his hand and hold his head after a while.

*Stomp*

*Stomp*

*STOMP* The floor seemed to shake.

*STOMP!*

Finally the front of the chest piece was more of a hazard to Tadamasa than a piece of defense as the scrunched up metal came close to piercing his chest and a bad move would hurt really bad; his face was also messed up pretty bad.

"AARGH! Mother…" A piece of the katana's blade was lodged into his leg by Yoshino after he found it conveniently lying around. After removing the piece he smiled darkly at Yoshino.

Yoshino only realized what was going on when his opponent's bony gloved hand neared his eye so he was unsuccessful in backing away.

"AARGH!" He convulsed and tried to push the man of him but the pain coupled with the long fight made the attempt void of effect. That was only one eye… why only one, "AAARGHH!"

The smell of burning flesh filled the air coupled with sound as the attacker put his trademark skull burn brand where his left eye would be, sealing the eyelid shut and making it marked.

"I always wondered what and eyeball tasted like," His opponent said as he walked out of the room, Yoshino puked as he realized the implications of the statement, "You have a full minute…"

"A full minute to do what…" Yoshino spat angrily,

"To run…" His opponent then vanished and a rapid beeping sound commenced signaling the start of a countdown. Yoshino's eyes widened and he jolted up trying to make sense of everything,

 _Fifty seconds_

He stumbled to the desk and punched the code for an escape route to open up,

 _Forty seconds_

He was going to run into the tunnel but he felt something tug at his heart, he looked back and saw Tadamasa's prone body, "F***!"

 _Thirty seconds_

He ran to drag the body towards the tunnel and successfully entered the tunnel with the body,

 _Fifteen seconds_

He was going back to close the door when his back locked in place,

 _Ten seconds_

He dragged himself towards the button

 _Five seconds_

His hand rose to press the button,

 _One second_

Press…?

*KA-BOOOOOOOM!*

\- (Konoha News Network) -

"Just in: An explosion has completely destroyed Bunker No.3 in the Mountain Sector… Our sources confirm that many police officers were pulled out of the bunker before it exploded leaving the members of both allied gangs in the destroyed bunk. It is unknown, however, whether Yoshino Kobe and Tadamasa Goto escaped but there have been claims from a few witnesses that they did." The woman from before said at the nine o'clock news.

\- (Uzumaki Estate – On top of Hokage Mountain) - (Next Day) -

*THUD*

The newspaper that landed on the table read,

'DESTRUCTION OF HEAVILY FORTIFIED BUNKER LAST NIGHT'  
 _followed by pictures of the scarred and blackened remains of the bunker_

A boy was sitting behind a big screen with the morning news on, in a very big chair as a loud groan was heard behind,

"You do realize how worried I was, when you came in all bloodied and beat up?"

"…"

"Then you bring these female strays home and put them in my care… are you listening to me"

"…Oh you worry too much Geiru… Fuzzy Bunny was already healing me," The boy responded indignantly,

"That, I am afraid, is my job…" The taller man in the grey jeans drawled out,

"…say it…say it…" The boy whispered in excitement and he started turning round,

"Master Naruto," The older man groaned as the boy finished his chair-turn revealing a grinning whiskered spiky red haired boy in a pair of dark red joggers with black trainers; his legs crossed. He was topless showing of a perfected abdomen for someone his size.

"I'm back… bitches!" A spike of his black outlined red hair dropped over his left eye; the imposing badass look was completed with his fingers pressed together in front of his face as his elbows rested on the armrest.

"You do know they won't see you for another two months?"

"Yeah… wait, WHAT?!"

\- (Chapter End) -

Yes… he's finally made a full appearance and he's going to take everything by the balls… that is if they have balls.

Key:

1\. Ritoru Nibai "Little Double"  
Rank: C  
Type: Offensive Ōmagajutsu (Scythe Technique)  
Range: Short  
Known Users: The Skull-King (maybe Naruto)  
Description: Two rips are executed at the torso (chest is most suitable) of the opponent in the shape of an X, if only one weapon is available, then the attack is done twice as fast with more strength exerted.  
Additional Notes: It is easier to perform with twin weapons; also a block with a limb would prove ineffective against this attack as the limb may be cut off. It is not known if chakra can be added to the attack to increase its range.

2\. Raiton: Don'yoku (Lightning style: Greed)  
Rank: B (Depending on the environment)  
Type: Offensive Kinjutsu  
Range: Long (Depending On The Wideness of the Conductor)  
Known Users: The Skull King  
Description: This jutsu is one that requires a conductor for it to be very effective. The Skull-King is seen to have used a black mist that quickly enveloped its victims. The lightning takes the color of its conductor and spreads to the very limits, hungering for more. It will go wherever the conductor goes and seems to be able to jump conductors as seen with the blood on Mia's arm.  
Additional Notes: This is considered a forbidden technique due to the amount of collateral and intentional damage it causes. Since it is able to jump conductors, it will stop at nothing till it has exhausted its medium.

3\. It translates to Sister.

4\. It translates to leech.

5\. Roughly translates to cute brother (actually brother cute)

6\. Translates to 'Shut Up'

7\. Motherfucker/Asshole ('nuff' said)

8\. For a better image go to; microtakashi *dot* deviantart *dot* com * * art * * Shaded-Grim-Reaper-Symbol-120368769# and put an hourglass of your choice into the drop of water on the skull's head. If any of you guys know the creator, I ain't him. Or you could search for Grim reaper skull symbol Microtakashi on Google Images and it's the first image.

9\. For a better image look at the sickles of this ninja; www . giantitp forums / showthread . php ? 131567-3-5-Tome-of-Battle-Discipline-Chthonic-Serpent-(PEACH); just close the spaces.

10\. Uzu Odori O Sakusei Shimasu (Vortex Dance Created)  
Rank: N/A (Unofficial Jutsu – Considered Low B)  
Type: Offensive Ōmagajutsu  
Range: Long (Depending on the length of chain and the number of clones created)  
Known Users: Naruto Uzumaki (in his Grim alias)  
Description: The power of ricocheting bullets is powerful; the power of intentional ricocheting blades is on a different level of crazy. A Double-joined Kusarigama is swung in calculated movements and with perfect timing to hit the blades of the other clones' Kusarigama. A sickle going on a straight path that is dodged could easily turn around and hit another person; or ally… but who needs allies when you got clones… right?  
Additional Notes: Like all Bōjutsu attacks this may be given an extra boost using chakra. Its drawback is that the user is not able to move when using it lest he disrupt the flow but he depends on the chain and sickles.

11\. Burakkumaunten Kenkyūjo (Black Mountain Insitute)  
Type: Correctional Facility  
Location: Black Mountain (Located Near the Hokage Mountain)  
Description: A prison built in the inner of the mountain; surprisingly comfortable for something of the sort. It is the source of a precious chakra metal and so prisoners convicted with a labor sentence are sent there. It is a correctional facility to the core and many people who go there come out changed… or broken. You cannot… I repeat you cannot break out. The secrets of the prison routes are so hidden even some of the guards don't know it and frequently get lost.  
History: Built during the Second Great Shinobi War to handle the influx of captured enemies and rapidly breed approved slaves for battle and mining. This project was stopped and the Hell hole was changed into a prison that no one wanted to visit as a convicted felon. The guards are very strict and skilled and so they have a clear track record of no prison riots since their current warden came in forty years ago.

Wow… I sit here for a week and only 10,821 words of actual story… Imagine what I could do in two weeks.

But Alas I will not be able to update my works or visit my for seven/eight bloody weeks. Hence Geiru's breaking of the fourth wall (or did he?) over there. I have a serious Examination coming up and I can't afford to flop in even the most boring subject.

Geiru (His full name shall be revealed later) is an Original Character of someone else who was kind enough to give me permission to use him. Legend00, I thank you for this and will use your character well. No he/she hasn't written any stories yet but he/she does have an interesting challenge on his profile… do check him/her out.

And on the side plate; If you can tell me one consistent thing I have (or haven't) done in the story… I'll give you a box of flaming chimichangas.

So Bye Bye… My loyal readers and leave lots and lots of reviews concerning my mistakes… your suggestions and what you would like to happen and I will see what I can do about them pesky quirks.

Ja Ne… For a very long time.


	9. Chapter 9: T & S: Selection

NARUTO: SOUL EATER

Disclaimer: The cake is fake.

Normal speech: "Pathetic"

Normal thinking: ' _This could be useful'_

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning speech: **"Foolish mortal"**

Inhuman/Demonic/Summoning thinking: _**'I will play along'**_

Jutsus (Translation): Raiton: Gekido (Lightning style: Wrath)

Expressions/Sound Effects: *Wham*

Scene change/POV change: - () -

A/N: Finally done with my Final Certificate Examinations!… Remember Long Wait = Extra Long Chapter. Without further ado... WAIT! I Would like to request – if anyone does not understand anything please pm me or say it in a review(if you're a guest) and I'll rectify it or explain it further…  
Oh and just so I don't add an A/N during the story the classic foothold trap is going to be called jaw trap… which is correct.

\- (Chapter 9: Teams & Strays: Selection) -

 _Previously on Soul Eater:  
The smoking bodies of the __Yoru Kinshi_ _littered the Throne room's floor  
Menma was probably the worse off with a seven feet long iron rod carrying impaling him through the chest. The only things that were left of the top part of his outfit were a few tattered pieces of fabric clinging to his smoldered back as a result revealing an intricate seal array on his abdomen. Something in his body was slowly corroding the iron rod._

 _W-who's the Go'h chick?" Will quizzed  
"My name is Antanasi"_

 _Antanasi rose to answer it revealing a blond man in the Hokage robes turning slowly to face her, "You are…"_

" _We have received news of a rather successful trafficking bust by the police; although according to a minor, we have reason to believe they were assisted by a vigilante we are now calling him 'Grim'…"_

\- (Chapter Start) -

 _Remember… There's No 'I' in Team… Wait a minute… there's no 'you' or 'we' in there either so who the fuck makes up the team exactly. Oh well Welcome to…_

\- Naruto Uzumaki talking to his… team.

\- (Hokage's Office – Before Sarutobi's Removal) -

Outside the Hokage's office were boxes; two large boxes and one medium. In the rather large room were no ornaments or furniture of any kind just a desk and behind it an office chair. Apart from these the room was totally stripped of content. The only people were the Hokage, his assistant and his Jōnin – at least those who had applied for the job of taking a cell of ninja…

Sarutobi looked around… This group was way larger than the last; of course with the war not many Jōnin had time to train a cell. In his mind he was happy that so many were qualified for this post especially after The Kyūbi event. But on the outside his face was set in a firm line as he spoke.

"As you know the Academy will be releasing a new batch of genin in a few months… All of you will have a cell to take charge of. My Assistant will share the files containing info-docs on your team; rest assured your individual skills and requests have been taken into consideration." The old Hokage took a breather as his assistant handed the files to their respective Jōnin. When she was done she stepped back to Sarutobi's side. "I would like all Tracking and Bounty Hunting teams to stand to the left of me, Assault and Assassination in front of me, Spying, Sabotage and Reconnaissance to the right…"

After a few minutes the large group of Jōnin had sorted itself into three rows.

Looking to his left Sarutobi's face lightened up and he thought, _'8 teams in tracking or B-H… suitable."_ He looked to his right and thought, _'Well done… 6 teams over there…'_ He would have continued to the group of seven Jōnin in front of him when the door burst open and two females rushed in, or rather one broke in and the other followed as the door was securely locked. Sarutobi frowned and some of the Jōnin showed condescension on their faces. One decided to voice her opinion,

"Hokage-sama, what are these two doing in a cell assignment mee-" She was cut off by the old man's uplifted hand.

"Yes… I'm sure you're all wondering why Mitarashi-san and Mādokku-san are doing here as they are special Jōnin but they recently applied for the teaching position… now we couldn't give them a cell each as they are not qualified so, and since their skills blend, we decided to make them head of their own Spec. Ops cell…" Sarutobi paused as some Jōnin voiced their disapproval. "Enough!" He said as his assistant walked over to the two and handed them a grey file to go through, "The matter is not for you to discuss; it has been considered by the elder council and has been logged. You may go through your files and report any inconsistencies." The room was filled with the opening of files and shuffling of papers.

After the all the Jōnin were content with their data Sarutobi allowed them to leave and they… left.; but two of them stayed; the Jōnin of the Spec. Ops cell.

"H-hokage-sama…" At the woman's calling of his title Sarutobi looked up from what he was doing to see the speaker,

"Yes…" He knew what the question was about.

"About my cell… one of the members is… unusual."

"Yes… it's up to you to control your team and oil any rough parts so that all missions can be bettered…" He said as the other spoke up,

"But is he not unsuitable for the provided role?"

Sarutobi chuckled and said cryptically, "Oh you'll find out he has his undersides but he is in no way unsuitable for the role…" he then motioned for the two to leave all the while thinking, _'Kami help them.'_

\- (-) -

In Konoha there were two forms of education; civilian and ninja training. Now in order for someone to enter the Konoha Ninja Academy there were three basic requirements – a desire to become a ninja; a fit body and sound mind; and finally a basic elementary school education certificate.

Without child's consent, effectiveness would be minimal therefore it was criminal to force the child to become a Shinobi. Therefore desire could be attained through torture, mind control, a role model, and other creative ways. It could also be a goal such as wanting to become Hokage or wanting revenge that drove one to want to be a Shinobi.

If the child had a detrimental defect on the body it would be totally time wasting for a sensei to teach him or her, the Shinobi Arts. Sometimes the child could have a genetic trump card in one of the various arts but if his/her sensei said he/she couldn't be a Shinobi, the Hokage was left with the decision and mostly said no. A permanent injury (such as loss of a leg) could also forcibly remove a person from active duty.

Now how would a Shinobi learn an art without a bit of theory… how would said Shinobi read such theory without any reading experience. This is where the Civilian Education System came into play; the elementary schools taught both normal civilians and Shinobi candidates how to read and write and the fundamentals of mathematics and science and it gave them some socialization skills. Of course some of higher up families in the Shinobi Clans opted to hire private tutors for their children.

Now this lead up to an examination of these academic skills in order to earn a certificate to continue to a higher level or join the Ninja Academy (if one could pay). This Certificate Examination (dubbed Basic Education Certificate Examination) could be taken by school outsiders by paying a small fee and so the privately tutored could enter the Academy.

Also each year orphans with great potential was sponsored to school and if he/she so wanted join the Academy.

Near a decade ago a Naruto Uzumaki was sponsored to go to Elementary School; he barely passed his Examinations with the help of deceased Ruth Akiyama (31). His story is one filled with sabotage and contempt complete with one or two suicide attempts… but to find out the truth behind why it is so one would have to break into the mind of one of the elders of the elder council… We do not have enough resources or thread and besides more will be revealed later on. One thing we know though, Naruto has been gone for a few years.

\- (Uzumaki Manor; following events) -

"I'm back… bitches!" A spike of his black outlined red hair dropped over his left eye; the imposing badass look was completed with his fingers pressed together in front of his face as his elbows rested on the armrest.

*WHAM*

"Owww… Hey you can't go around smacking me when I cuss!" Naruto shouted in outrage at his currently bare-chested butler.

"Master Naruto, you come from a long line of noble individuals… you must maintain this line of nobility by…" He heard a low snore and raised a singed eyebrow in confusion then saw his master sleeping. He instantly fell to the ground and dark clouds formed over his head, _'Why doesn't he ever listen to me!'_

Naruto lifted an eyelid to see the downed butler and let a tiny smirk grace his face; he quickly got off his seat and headed to the stairs leading out of the cave. Reaching the topmost step he reached a solid wall on which he placed a palm…

 ***GRRSHHH*** the wall made a grinding growl as it parted and allowed Naruto to move on into his main study. As he stared out of the sole window he said,

"Looks like it's going to be a rainy day," He turned and exited the room, "okay, the first order of business today… eat." The young lad picked up the pace towards where the dining hall was. The dining hall was a traditional one with a beautiful and long mahogany table with silver cushions/ chair hybrids over a tatami mat– this was one of two rooms to have tatami mat. The table was decorated with all manner of breakfasts foods prepared for Naruto and his adopted ones.

"Aniki, I wanna eat!" A little boy in a black shirt and light brown shorts said crossing his arms in childish indignation.

"You'll have to wait for your siblings Fu-min…" Naruto said,in his normal smooth voice, looking at the little boy whilst stroking his brown hair.

The boy; Fu-min Shō was a victim of several experiments during his toddler ages leaving him with a disorder or rather a mutation of a present disorder. His mutated disorder allowed him five hours of total catatonic hibernation to one and a half week of staying awake. He was a 'failed project' as the one(s) who did this to him could not duplicate the effects in any other person. He was just a Stamina Demon now and one of Naruto's adopted.

A few minutes later,

"Yawn… Ohayōgozaimasu Naruto-Nii, Fu-chan" Rang out from the mouths of two identical spiky haired boy and girl; Kita and Mina were their names and they were as far from normal as their insomnia plagued brother. But as the others are arriving the revelation will be held off.

Soon the Dining table was one/thirds full with all the people in the house equivalent to twelve. A loud "ITADAKIMASU" was heard and then the daily breakfast battle began. Fu-min picked up an onigiri only to have it snatched from his clutches… He reached for a bowl of miso soup and this time was successful. Soon the table was a food derived mess; of course all the delicious food was gone but there were chopsticks, soup bowls, plates and other things scattered around the table.

\- (Training Fields) -

"As you may know, Master Naruto demands that all of you be kept in top shape for as long as you live her and serve him!" Geiru shouted to the group of young ones in front of him. "For today all of you will be going on the normal maze track. Suit UP!"

The young ones rushed to a desk with various briefcases on it. Opening their respective briefcases they each found a black full-body bodysuit; completed with a hood and a half mask. The whole suit was made out of Stabilized Negarus; a very rare, unstable and skin-like substance obtained from melting its even rarer parent stone – Negarite. The material was quite useful as it had the special property of being able to reject/ negate all forms of chakra in its unstable form. In the form it was in right now it would only allow the wearer to conduct chakra through it. It was also quite resistant to physical attacks.

Upon wearing they felt padding on their forearms, chest, spine, lower legs and shoulders. The padding was so thin it was hard to see but it was made of High-Density Aerus; an almost indestructible material that was as light as feathers. As an additional boon there were silver, thin Eternin tubes running through the suit in like visible veins. Multiple Eternin tubes converged at the left side of the chest to form a Caduceus Rune; with the top of the staff being a skull. Others converged at the right shoulder, left wrist and both palms to form a storage seal. The Eternin Tubes allowed the Caduceus Rune to act by restoring and healing the wearers by transporting the ancient energy all over the body.

Finally each of them had a small red-eyed skull on their chest covering only their manubrium. It was the suit's storage and by the users' mental command the skull would absorb the suit.

"Now the setting is that you will each be put at the front of the danger maze. That is all, I will say figure it out for yourselves! Master's orders."Geiru let out a little sigh as the rain started to fall a bit heavier, "Looks like there's going to be a storm around Konoha."

\- (Maris Inukai-Uzumaki) -

Let's start with the boy named Maris Inukai-Uzumaki, thirteen currently. He is what you'd call a half-breed. Long story short: his mother –a captured Kunoichi from Konohagakure no Sato – was used as an incubator for mutated plant genes. His mother did not survive the birth – what with roots and vines and a huge flower sprouting out of her body - and for a while neither did Maris. After being forcefully grown to the age he was last year, he was dumped in the local orphanage to cover the cost of caring for him. Of course all plans don't go as smoothly as they are made. Two months after being placed in the orphanage there was a heavy raid by bandits and all the matrons were killed and the children mortally wounded including Maris and some other adopted ones. In his dying moments he cried out to the blood-thirsty bandit-killer to save him being chorused by the three others still alive. There is no need of a visual playback of the horrors that he saw on that day…

*CraCkle-FZZT*

"Kuso! The vines covering the wall are electric… No wonder I couldn't force them to move." Maris struggled out in pain as he clutched his stinging left arm, "And not with chakra; I would have been protected by the suit if the protect function was on... I should turn it on" He found out he couldn't and realized it was probably part of the test.

Maris tilted his head as he heard a distant yet horrible roar. His nose picked up the faint scent of chemicals filling his corridor.

"What the...?" Realizing the consequences of the foul smelling yet familiar chemicals he started to run down the path.

*Tssst* He narrowly slid under a concentrated spray of toxic chemicals that would have put him out of commission.

From the strong stench and the dizziness from even that far under the spray, he understood that these were going to be detrimental to his plant side despite the intensive resistance training he had been put through so he started running down the stretching corridor; hopping over and sliding under various sprays

He came to a split in the road and was forced to the left as the wall edge splitting the road had nozzles that released yet another burst. He stumbled from his quick rotational sidestep to the left and would have fallen… but he didn't and just continued.

As he moved along the rather safe path, he came to a place where the only place to move was forward as dead ends were visible from his left and right.

*Ssssshhhhhh* the sound of gas moving towards made Maris turn is heard to confirm his suspicions. To his horror it was worse than what he believed; it was his master's special black mist. Then the noise came from left and right. Maris was forced to run straight ahead.

\- (Kita And Mina Uzumaki) -

*Fwoom!* the running twins leaned back immediately as the huge axe-blade swung from the wall nearly lopping of their vulnerable heads.

Wasting no time they both ran forward as the blade was suspended at the other side.

*Fwoom* another blade came rushing by narrowly missing the twins who got past in time.

*Fwoom* this time one twin stayed behind as the other leapt across the blade's path. The late twin managed to cross on his second attempt.

*Shhlllk* A blade popped out of a wall as soon as they took a left.

Kita leapt over the incoming blade and Mina slid underneath it. They continued and had to split again as a large blade wheel came in between them from the floor.

The sounds of multiple electricity cracks signified that Mina had touched the vine-covered wall one too many times; this was further confirmed by her cursing from the other side of the blades that seemed to be always spinning out of the ground and back in like a gear. Strangely there was a horrible roar from elsewhere.

"Problem: Blades or wheel aren't made of magnetic substances. Mina?" Kita asked after trying to mould the blade to create a pathway for his twin to join him

"Rragh!" A fist of red electricity forced the blade to crumple and soon the angry Mina crossed over;right hand still crackling with the electricity greatly agitated by the falling rain.

It was just like that day

\- (Series of Flashbacks Start) -

"Come on Kita!" The annoyed girl called out as she continued through the maze quickly being pushed, by Kita, over a spike pit that she trigger-opened in her anger.

" _Come on ******" An older Mina called to her slower as they slugged through the muddy ground of the plains they were in. Kita could not remember what name she had mentioned and neither could Mina. Soon they arrived at a place where there were more fallen leaves on the ground than trees to produce._

" _*****!" Kita rushed and pushed his sibling over a particular heap of leaves recognizing the glint of the slightly uncovered metal jaw trap after the lightning had struck._

*Snap!*

Another huge jaw trap snapped in front of them as they successfully jumped through the last one and landed on the platform. The trap's closed teeth slowly came open after a few minutes and then the twins quickly jumped through.

 _*SNAP* *SNAP* *SNAP* *SNAP* *SNAP* *SNAP* Countless other hidden jaw traps were triggered as the twins scrambled about in panic till,_

 _*SNA-CRRCK!*_

 _Kita let out a pained screamed as his ankle bone was dug into and fractured multiple times by the teeth of the last trap on the border of the area. He struggled with the jaws and after a while gave up; his face a portrait of dejectedness and pain._

"Oww, My hand, I swear I was sure that was magnetic…" Kita grumbled as he held his left wrist in his right hand as he waved it in the air trying to draw the feeling back into it. He had tried punching a dead-end wall that they had met by choosing the obviously free path.

"Kita…" No response for Mina, "Kita! " This time the boy looked directly at her not noticing what she saw before he heard the ominous sound of gas being released,

*Shhhhhh* Just like that time.

" _****** Come on… I ain't gonna leave you here by yourself…" The distraught girl said in panic._

" _*****… go, leave me and go." The equally older Kita trying to hold back his tears,_

" _No," The other twin rushed to Kita's ankle and tried to force the mechanism to open, "I-I'll find a way… I can't leave you here Otōto…" She slumped even further,_

" _Hey who are you calling little brother, I was born just a whole ho-oof!" His attempt to relieve was interrupted by his sister slamming into his sitting form; he welcomed her into an embrace._

 _She was whispering something and at first he thought she was saying it's my fault but at the quick and harsh push he realized she was saying sorry for this as she mouthed it one more time._

"Okay stay calm sis… we can face this there has to be a way out." The way he said it made it sound more of a question than a statement. He turned to examine the wall blocking their path.

*Thud*

He turned again to see his sister sitting on the floor crawling away from the approaching electricity filled mist. He embraced her fleeing body and held her tight forcing her up.

" _AAAargh! Kuso…" The young adult looked at his ankle to see jagged lines and blood flowing down from his mangled ankle to the ball of his foot; he looked at his sister whose head was down. His eyes caught the glistening of tears as they fell from her eyes. He forced himself up and limped towards her and then clutched her shoulders tightly. She looked up hesitantly and was a bit surprised to feel the lips of her brother on her forehead. "Let's move on… yeah?"_

 _She nodded._

"We can make it out of here just relax…" His sister nodded and he looked up to the top of the wall and saw the familiar glint of metal; but why would there be metal up there. He quickly formulated a plan, "Sis I need you to push every bit of electrical energy back as I try to bring that thing down." He pointed and she nodded once more.

 _*BOOM* A flash of lightning temporarily scarred the heaven as it hit a tower a few blocks behind them. They were currently in the metal plains; a whole field made out of only metallic substance – In other words a lightning zone. Scattered amongst the plains were multiple skeletons of miners, explorers, criminals and probably runaways like them who had tried to cross the plains during a storm of even lesser proportions than this._

 _As they run through or rather as one dragged the other hastily through the plains they didn't notice the figure standing on one of the many tall towers that dotted the plains like anthills; they were too pre-occupied with getting through successfully._

" _***** WATCH OUT!" A flash of lightning hit a nearby tower and the shockwave caused them to fly into a recently dug pit containing mud and liquid of some kind._

 _The adult Kita was shielded by his sister as the lightning soared above them. He dug his fingers into the walls of the pit trying to get out and shield her instead._

 _*BOOM-BOOM* A flash of odd steel colored lightning hit the pit and that was all the twins remembered._

\- (Series of Flashbacks end) -

' _After that… we woke up… in the… Uzumaki's…. Mansion,'_ the boy's train of thought was slowed by the steady stream of electricity flowing through his body as he neared the top of the wall. _Yes I've finally made it up here…'_ He grabbed the lever and pulled the rusty thing causing a hidden door all the way at the bottom of the wall to had to keep hopping as the wall was still electrically charged at the top; it was a very far-stretching but he could see the end point in sight.

He looked back down to see his sister had disappeared into the door in the wall. He would have jumped down if not for the steadily climbing mist that had fully been imbued with electricity. Thinking fast he grabbed the lever and tried to pull it to its original state to prevent the mist from following his sister.

*Crr-Snap* the lever broke and came out of the lock mechanism due to its age and Kita's rapid hopping. Any attempt to bend the lock was prevented by the lock being made of a non-magnetic substance.

' _Guess there's no choice…'_ He turned and started sprinting towards the other end of the wall.

\- (Young Lady Olivier R. Uzumaki-Alymer) -

*Splat*

*Splat*

A little girl with a rose sticking out of her hair walked quietly through the maze all the while being followed by a black feline creature that was jumping on some horrendously deformed slug-creatures that were crawling around in the muddy grounds of the maze making them burst under the sharp claws.

*Splat*

*Splat*

*Splat*

The girl held out her hand all of a sudden and then the feline jumped on her arm and trekked to her shoulder. She abruptly turned to see a huge ox-like humanoid creature standing behind her. She run up to the creature and jumped towards it shoulder… Only to be swatted at by the creature causing her to impossibly change trajectory in mid-air and head for the creature's abdomen; its torso had ridges of some kind that were deep enough to support her foot as she run up.

The creature performed a down sweeping motion with its hand as she neared his neck. All the girl did was jump and then change directions and start running along the hand of the eighteen foot beast. She would have reached the creature's head if not for the self-detachment of the arm she was travelling on. Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second as she ran on the still suspended arm (gravity was yet to act) before they narrowed in concentration.

She reached the end of the now falling arm and leapt of it. She entered the cloud of steam left behind by the separating act. She erupted out of the steam in a kicking pose.

*Whannk* the force of the kick against the steel behind the synthetic leather pushed the girl back and she fell to the ground serenely, arms crossed over her chest.

Only there was no sickening thud or crunch signaling the end of her fall but there was a low hum and the lady in question was floating just a few inches from certain death or as it was now, the ground. The hum got a bit louder and the girl shot up and was safely on her two feet again.

' _A mech.… Cleverly concealed… but I must finish this quickly and progress…'_ The young lady's train of thought was punctuated by the swiping of metallic claws downwards.

*Splosh* the claws slammed besides the calm girl doing far less harm to the girl than the mud that flew up from the impact. The creature's dented head had reduced its optical capabilities ergo its inability to clearly see the frowning girl in front of him.

' _I have spent too much time here…'_ The girl's feline companion went around her body kicking off pieces of mud.

"RRAARGHH!" The creature let out a rough gravelly roar that threatened to split the brains of the listener's, it also revealed its prominent feeling; rage.A pure and unadulterated rage at the girl who had caused its annoying disability; or at least as much rage as its cold metal heart could feel. It let its spare arm fly at the three or so girls in front of it.

The young lady let a smirk take over her frown as she stood in the path of the approaching punch.

*THUd* there was no more movement as the fist stopped just a few foot above the ground. Of course the driving force blew a dent into the mud forming a crude shape similar to the fist of the creature but no impact with the ground.

A simple tug… That was all from the girl before the arm she was holding… came off. Complete with the inner metallic gears and tubing that kept the now severed arm alive and connected.

She reared and swung the severed arm back towards its owners face and…

*Wham* an equal sized-

*Wham* an even greater-

*Wham* the head was re-

*Crash*…

As explanatory as the above is, we… I must leave to follow the leaving Olivier who was…

*BOOM*

… _leaving_

Now you might be wondering, who is this strong yet short silver haired beauty who by her name could be identified as a young noble… Her _old_ family consisted of an older distant brother as head of her family's company in the western islands. A very manipulative and beautiful older sister who has already drained two husbands of high status; for the betterment of her family. A high noble mother who she had never seen… and finally a scientist dad who created her.

Not in the normal sexual tense most of you are thinking of but in the robot manufacturing/ perfect daughter creation tense that is not at all common. She was made on the borders of the land of storms in her father's castle which built there. She had visited the western islands only twice before her father focused on completing her; over at the islands she had been extensively tutored in politics and topics of higher learning. He rebuilt her body yet for lack of permanent power source plus conduit her father abandoned her; cursing the fact that he had advanced her design too much and vowing to return.

As the stories of the other adopted Naruto happened across her whilst on an operation to the land of Storms. More like Naruto entered the castle, got past the security failsafe and got to where she was being kept. Realizing her dilemma, the Uzumaki also recovered (read: stole) her bodies, she had five in total, various notebooks on maintenance and other essential topics, and her present companion. Upon reaching his, at the time new, estate he carefully dismantled her inactive and tweaking the notes revamped her inner workings with a series of complex seal array and Eternin tubes; along with a gargantuan amount of chakra, a newly fitted (enhanced) skin, and a portion of his accumulated souls, the girl became more of him than anyone else.

She was like a mini Naruto in many ways… but we don't know what the new Naruto is like now do we…

' _I do detest it so when Father underestimates me like this… that wall would be easy for a jumping hare,'_ Shaking her head the girl jumped aiming to reach the top of the dead end wall; or at least tried to.

*thud* Olivier suddenly fell back on the ground sitting as the multiple gravity increasing seals activated.

' _Okay… he did not unerringly… underestimate me'_ she showed great strength in her struggle to rise but the gravity field had been set. So using even greater force she walked forward slowly but assured of what she was doing. Finally she reached the wall…

*WHAM* the hidden door was forcibly ejected from its place on the wall as Olivier push kicked it meters away.

Entering the dark tight corridor Olivier found out she had made a mistake by pushing the door too far as the black mist was threatening to breach the corridor. She turned and took to her heels away from the mist which was faster in the corridor. The mist was being forced into one place under the gravity field not allowed to rise and so the pressure build up from the excess was released into the corridor. The high pressure was turned into a very quickly moving mist; and an even faster Olivier was forced to keep up the pace in order not to be in intense pain.

Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel was visible and she ran even faster till twenty meters away from the end…

*Rummmble-Crash* the unsteady corridor collapsed behind her and the rubble threatened to bury her. This was not much of a problem but the shooting pebbles and bigger rocks where painfully annoying. Pebbles and bigger rocks from the rubble were shot forward by the pressure of the unstoppable mist.

Just as she jumped out of the corridor an unlucky stone the size of a fist flew towards her with enough strength to pierce through the skin.

It was reduced to dust when the feline creature swatted at it with its long tail.

' _Thank you Ovinnik'_ She said as she fell to the ground; the first one here… not to long after Mina popped out another corridor roughly hundred meters away from hers.

"My brother here?" Mina asked exhausted, looking around slowly at Olivier's head shake.

"AAAAAH" A distant echo rang from above them. They looked up and saw Kita falling with enough force to die once he hit the ground. Olivier not wanting anything to happen to her surrogate little brother leapt high in the air for the boy and calmly embraced him. A loud hum erupted from Olivier's back as, on closer inspection, three thin vents let enough air go down to keep them hovering.

As she was about to let herself reach a perfect landing, the ground erupted with multiple vines beneath showing the green –haired head of Maris Inukai forcing her to land on his head eliciting a yell of pain.

A few meters away Geiru smiled widely as the first batch of the training adopted completed their test.

\- (Abandoned Monastery – A few months to Graduation Test) -

"Great Lord of The Lost Wastes, we bring this maiden before you in sacrifice…" The tied up girl in question made no moves as she had been drugged,

"Defeater of Ca'saat we desire your presence" A man dressed in black-trimmed ash robes and a black waist sash called out as he moved around the girl drawing an ancient circle with a dagger whilst referring to a book,

"Mmm" The girl began to stir as the drugs were wearing off and she saw through blurred vision multiple men in grey robes and waist sashes of the same color chanting something, for some reason she couldn't talk…

"Previous Rule-" The supposed head was interrupted by the arrival of a taller man in a black cloak with a sword strapped to his waist who whispered something into his ears. The head priest's eyes widened slightly before his eyes narrowed and he nodded. The man left, hands on his sword. "Previous Ruler of the Low Citadel, Wanderer of The Void Desert…" The chanting by the priests around him increased as he finished designing the circle and procured a small ritual dagger. He wasted no time in plunging the dagger into the girl's hand and drawing a smaller intricately designed circle there. Five of his fellows lighted torches on the walls of the dark room causing the space to be filled with a sickly red glow.

"MMM!" The girl's eyes shot open as the pain of the cursed ritual dagger carved her skin, she wanted so eagerly to bite, kick, strangle the evil individual doing this to her but her struggles were ceased by the strong rope bindings that kept her hands up, her body hanging, and her legs set together in place above the floor were a smaller circle was being filled with her dripping blood.

Soon the blood had reached the circumference of the unholy circle and was flowing up rods with torches above them. As the gravity defying liquid moved up, the girl started to feel light headed from all the blood loss. The chanting also increased in intensity and one by one the robed individuals started to fall to their knees in pain as the twelve torches equally distanced on the circumference of the circle lighted with black flames.

"RISE K'shaqugomm! I require you to trade me my desire for this pure life!" The head priest hissed with his eyes closed as he drove the ritual dagger into her chest; when he opened his eyes, they widened as he spotted the black flames. _'No… no… this girl is supposed to be pure in body!'_ He nearly stepped out of the mini-circle he was in which would have disrupted the whole ritual; nearly.

*Boom*

The robed head priest looked back and saw dust rushing into the ritual room… he frowned knowing the cause was an explosion from upstairs…

"Gasp!" The head priest felt partial shock as soon as he looked into the totally black eyes of the girl before him; black? The girl had pupils and brown irises before… "Arrgh-gurk-gurk!" The man found his feet off the floor and a slender hand squeezing his broad neck. He tried to shut his eyes and claw at the hand in an effort to struggle. The man could feel the blood trickling down five points on his neck as is oxygen supply was quickly lowered. Clutching the bloody ritual dagger in his equally bloody left hand, he gave one last frantic upward thrust.

"Ah!" The possessed girl threw the priest far away into the wall, causing the man to get stuck in a depression that formed with the impact. The girl threw the throat matter that clung to her nails off with a simple flick of the wrist.

The girl looked around slowly and then jumped backwards quickly.

*Boom!* Another explosion caused that part of the ceiling of the basement to cave and a figure dropped in amidst the dust and smoke.

The priest, who was now on his knees clutching his bloody neck (what was left off the front, at least), looked up and through the dust cloud, _'spiked hood… sc-scythe… red and black… Is he the Grim?'_ He started to drift into and out off pending blood-loss unconsciousness but before he stammered, "He-he- cough- help me!" Every vibration of his vocal folds, every inhalation and exhalation, every movement he tried to make hurt, _badly_.

To his surprise the girl walked up to him and held out a hand in order to help him up. He grabbed the lean hand and felt a surprisingly strong pull raise him up.

*Schllk* The last thing he saw was the other deformed arm thrusting into his chest from behind the girl's back… His miserable existence was completed with the words,

" **Your desire has been fulfilled…"** She had already consumed the man's soul.

After the kill, the girl – no – K'shaqugomm again removed the waste matter of her hand with a flick of a long tongue across the clawed fingers and proceeded to throw the corpse back into the wall. She looked around at the shocked, scared, scarred and frozen priests around her and grinned in soul/blood-lust. But not towards the priests only, no… there was a more imposing presence in the dark space.

Honing her senses, K'shaqugomm gasped when she actually discerned the base of the spirit _ **'Is that… No it can't be a wanderer… they're all dead… but his mere presence indicates he is no human, delightful! Finally a great meal…' "**_ **I haven't had that in centuries!"** The demoness actually spoke her last line of thought out loud in anticipation.

"Youdo know _that eating_ souls is a crime… _Don't you K'shaq?"_ For some reason K'shaqugomm shivered in delight as the hooded individual shortened her name.

" **Oh it's been too long since someone had the guts to call me that… those who did found those guts all over the floor! I'm going to enjoy you** _ **human!**_ **"** The demoness rushed in without any warning with incredible speed.

Her right fist met empty space as The Grim sidestepped to the left equally fast.

*Thud* She blocked a roundhouse kick to the head with her left forearm grinning as the arm tingled. She turned around in an effort to elbow the hooded person. The Grim backpedaled and for good reason too as if he had tried to block he would have broken a bone.

For a brief moment they two were unmoving, glaring at each other… At K'shaqugomm's grin they instantaneously disappeared from their previous positions in burst of speed.

*Thud* the first contact was a kick blocked courtesy of K'shaqugomm… then nobody was there…

*THUD* A fist pounded the forearms of the Grim; a distortion in the air was the only evidence that they were there.

There were more sounds ringing out as they two combatants attacked each other – a blocked knee, a dodged roundhouse kick, a forearm to the abdomen, a sweeping kick that was followed by an ax kick – all these almost invisible as they fighters moved around and tore the room apart.

*WHAM!* The Grim got a heavy Push Kick in after the girl was falling from a preceding sweeping kick. The result was a depression in the opposite wall and coughing demoness.

' _ **Damn it… this host is rather weak, consuming that soul kept me from dying just after that kick… Yes!'**_ The demoness in question rushed forward and so did The Grim but before there was any contact K'shaqugomm front-flipped over the punching Grim and continued to grab the head of one of the unconscious priests,

"No," The Grim realizing what she was doing, charged at her,

*Crrk-Squelch* Brain matter and blood along with bone chippings covered the fingers of the girl who again licked them off. She quickly consumed the soul of this priest before it could dissipate into the afterlife.

" **Ahhh! Refreshing… Ever tasted a soul before?"** The voice came trying to spark a reaction in the masked vigilante.

The only reaction was that The Grim pulled up his sleeve displaying a seal/rune on his wrist; the girl's eyes widened as she noticed it, _**'Runes! Those should be extinct by now! Who is this individual?'**_

A low hum filled the air as a long shroud of darkness surrounded The Grim's hand, "Say hello to my-"

If the possessed girl's eyes were to pop out any time in her life this would be the correct time as the demoness inside felt shock, so much mixed with terror as she looked at the shroud, _**'A so-so-so-soul d-devour-devourer?! H-h-how d-does… How do-does h-he have t-t-t-t-tha-that! H-he can-can't be… one-one of them! I have to-ahh-"**_ The shocked demoness let a hasty hook fly as The Grim shot towards her. Her fist landed clean on the side of the head but it came at a heavy cost. Although the blow caused The Grim to shift downwards he still swung the huge scythe at her. The long blade cut through the abdomen of the girl from an awkward angle; starting at the waist and ending somewhere above the stomach level

*Thud* the upper part hit the floor hard whilst the lower knelt down. **"I will not… I will never… I'm never going back- never going back to** _ **that**_ **place! Come here priest! I will n-"**

*Squelch!* the dark blade drove itself into the head of the crawling demoness effectively absorbing the souls of both the girl and the demon.

With a flick of his wrist the huge scythe was shrouded by the darkness and sent into storage.

"A-a-arigato, Grim-sama…" A bold priest said as he looked quite relieved at the vanquishing of the demoness they had summoned.

"Hmm?" For a few seconds, the vigilante in the skull mask was genuinely confused at the thanks, then he chuckled in realization, his distorted voice sending chills down their spines "Ari _-gato?_ Oh this _is rich!_ You think I did _all this for_ you?!" All of the priests looked on confused as their 'savior' removed his staff from behind him, broke it into two chain-connected sections and by some mechanism both parts sprouted a scythe's blade at their end. Then, one of them realized the implications and scrambled for the door; inciting the others. " _Filth, none of_ you leave… or live!"

When the police arrive later that day, they find nothing but the charred remains of a collapsed house; nothing too pressing to investigate and so the unidentifiable and bloody remains of multiple priests and priestesses.

\- (Hokage Inauguration Ceremony) -

"People of Konohagakure no Sato… my people! Many of you have heard rumors about changes in our village; some of these rumors are true whilst most are far from the truth... But after this event all will be made clear!" Sarutobi said with confidence in his voice, "We have come a long way from the event that decimated our home, we've strived ahead hand in hand and we're not through yet but we are _this close_ to exceeding our former glory and this is all thanks to your elder council… your ministers and each and every one of you!" Cheers erupted from below Sarutobi who stood firm on the balcony. He waited till the noise went down then continued, "Standing behind me is a man who will take my place; yes, I am stepping down but I am leaving you in hands even more capable than mine. I will now introduce you to the man who will be your new Hokage! I give you Namikaze Minato… YourYondaimeHokage!"

Silence… Jaws hit the floor and eyes popped out… there was a deathly silence in the crowd… every genin, chūnin, rookie jōnin and most civilians was silent.

Then there was a clap; a single clap… and then the very floor rumbled with loud cheers, a chūnin literally imploded his voice box charging chakra into it, a few civilians were trampled by the moving crowd.

After minutes of these violent cheers, the crowd control personnel were effective in silencing the huge crowd.

Minato stood there scratching his head sheepishly, "Everyone… As I stand before you today many of you are angry at me for leaving you when you needed me the most… I will not justify my actions with an excuse. I only ask that you let me make it up to you; let me be your new light, your helping hand. I must confess I left out of fear… fear that my enemies would exploit my weakness, my state after the attack and kill everything I love… including you…"

\- (Uzumaki Clan Estate) -

In the main building of the estates, in the living room, all of the adopted ones were gathered in front of the large Television watching the ceremony live; they were not the only ones as in the large cave of Naruto, Naruto, his trusted butler and a mysterious woman also sat (or rather stood in the case of Geiru) behind a larger screen; they weren't paying much attention but Naruto and the woman were conversing,

"On the issue of the Denki Otoko, his operation was successfully completed and he asks for further orders…" The lady said in a dry tone devoid of any emotion.

"Tell him to do the usual…" The woman nodded and wrote something in her journal…

Minato was still going on at the ceremony and was now introducing his son…

Naruto scoffed below his breath then looked at the woman holding the journal, tilting his head in an effort to make her continue but her eyes were glued to the screen. He heard Geiru mutter an insult under his breath and let an eyebrow go up in slight confusion.

Looking to the screen his mind was rather boggled by one thing; who was the woman Minato was holding… then he heard what was being said and anger; an emotion that he never let himself feel replaced his confusion. He gripped the armrest of his throne so much that the highly durable material it was made from completely was turned to shreds.

His visible rage caused the screen to be filled with static, it caused the air to warp and distort around him. It caused the children upstairs to shake and tremble and they had to lie flat on the ground to ease the pressure. His trusted cook, Akira, looked around in fright clutching her chest in pain.

From across the screen Minato said, I have returned with my son, my daughter and my _wife…_

" **Rowena… I am going to destroy someone…** Find a suitable target." He walked to a closet in the cave that held his suit and equipment, the newly identified Rowena gave a slight bow,

"Yes… Brother"

\- (Ninja Academy) -

"What did you just say? I was dis-what?!" An enraged purple-haired girl asked Shino who was being held to the wall,

Shino clutched the offending hand holding him up against the wall and gave a light squeeze, "You were disqualified… because you weren't here… now let me go…" A harder squeeze made Ami retract her hand in slight hurt as she glared at Shino. "I did that because-"

"Save it!" Ami said angrily to her friend and she turned and started to walk away, Shino tilted his head in confusion,

"Are you angry at me because I didn't protest against your disqualification? If I had it would have had effect… what did you expect me to say?"

"Oh I don't know: Let's postpone her match, let's ask her moma where she is? I heard that teh Hyuuga princess was allowed a break, didn't something clue you in to the unfairness of the whole situation?!" She would have resumed walking if not for the sudden presence of the Bat clan heir in front of her.

"Stop acting like a spoilt brat!" Ami stepped back in slight horror as Kōmori made her cognizant of her un-kunoichi-like outburst, "So you missed a battle, so you were disqualified, does that give you a reason to replace your 'the' with 'the'?" She gave a small smile and turned around,

"Sorry Shino, I-" She started,

"Save it…" The trio shared a small laugh as they walked to Academy sparring grounds.

It had been a whole week since the end of the Chimamire no Ken tournament, the YoruKinshi had won recognition in the eyes of many as they took a cool prize of seven hundred and fifty thousand ryō home. Of course this recognition had extended to some of the Academy students, Kiba for one was quite verbal in his teasing of Kōmori and Mia for losing. His respect for them had risen but he would die before admitting it (as many).

As for Menma he seemed to be used to the flow of attention; with his father being the new Hokage, him being in the YoruKinshi, Hinata stalking him… Oh yes, Hinata had recovered well from her injuries and so the postponed Taijutsu Tournament was going to be continued today.

"Okay everyone, settle down…" Seeing as none of his students were listening to him, a vein bulged on Iruka's forehead and said head enlarged several times as Iruka roared, "SHUT UP AND SETTLE DOWN!"The students instantly went silent in shock and some horror as Iruka's big head became smaller… "Okey-dokey people, let's get this party started," Whilst Iruka was busy with the tournament map, many students sweatdropped at their teacher's corniness.

\- (Battle Start) - (UchihaSasuke) - (Versus) - (MādokkuKōmori) -

"Okay will… Sasuke and Kōmori step up please?!" The aforementioned boys climbed up to the stage and readied themselves for battle.

' _Hmm… this will be a good test of my skills, once I beat him, I'll be a step closer to gaining my objective…'_ The Young Uchiha thought with as much glee as someone like him could muster…

' _Hmm… that stance, Yogo no ken_ (1) _but he does not have the sharingan…'_ The other heir thought confused as the other boy got into the Uchiha clan's signature taijutsu stance. Kōmori settled into his own stance just before Iruka cried out,

"HAJIME!"

Kōmori flipped backwards just as the battle commenced and for good reason too; Sasuke lunged at him with a quick one-two combo. Landing safely, Kōmori threw a large marble at and run towards the left of Sasuke. Sasuke leapt to his left too after the marble was replaced with a clone of Kōmori who made to punch. But his attempt to escape was in vain as he ran into Kōmori's waiting push kick forcing him forward and near the end.

Truth be told, Kōmori had made a gamble as if Sasuke jumped right… but he didn't and the jumper in question had his back to Kōmori.

But Kōmori knew better than to walk into the obvious trap, so he threw a kunai at the boy; the blunt kunai served to enrage the other tween and he turned around quickly and charged at his opponent. His opponent leap frogged over him and so no harm done with that charge.

Before Sasuke turned around, Kōmori had and was performing a sweep that made Sasuke lose balance as one leg went up. When Kōmori attempted another push kick he hit a log and Sasuke was out of reach but he was floored. With a quick kip up Sasuke rose in time to block a flying kick from Kōmori. Thinking fast he executed a sweep to knock Kōmori's hand from under him as the opponent was in the middle of a backflip.

Sasuke attempted to stomp his downed opponent, the said boy rolled out of the way all the while thinking, _'Not again!'_

Before Sasuke start the flurry of stomps, Kōmori performed a strong kip-up, his feet nailed Sasuke in the gut and the boy went across the ring nearly falling off. The annoyed Sasuke started a series of handseals,

 _Tiger → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger_

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (2)!" A large ball of flames erupted from Sasuke's mouth and flew towards the startled Kōmori.

Sasuke couldn't keep the slight grin of his face at his victory; of course there was that 0.1 portion that felt horror at 'killing' the-

When the smoke finally cleared Sasuke saw an untouched Kōmori standing there, smirking at him; needless to say that 0.1 was silent and Sasuke felt the exhaustion kick in from charging the fireball to make it extra-large. Wanting nothing more than to at least get some sort of win, coupled with the anger, Sasuke charged blindly and threw a left hook at the motionless opponent expecting to knock him a few centimeters back so he would fall off. Imagine his surprise when his fist passed through 'Kōmori's' head along with his whole body; in fact he flew many centimeters forward causing him to fall out.

\- (Battle End) -

Iruka would have called the match a draw if not for the dropping of the winner from the sky where he had been to avoid the flames; a wing and strong legs get one far. After recording his statistics in his small journal and made changes to the tournament map.

Looking at said map once more he declared, "Chisso and Mia… step up to the ring please!" Said girls walked up the stairs to the ring and wasted no time in settling into their battle. Chisso is the orange spiky haired girl in the grey crop top with noodle straps, ash jean shorts and with a black band on her left upper arm. Mia is the slightly pale girl in a short jade kimono, black knee length shorts and a silver anklet; remember that.

\- (Battle Start) - (Nenshō Chisso) - (Versus) - (Ryūketsu Mia) -

"Hajime"

Mia started off by throwing a barrage of Kyūketsusenbon (3) at the spiky haired who ran to the left to avoid them. She suffered from the hits of only two from the first barrage, from the second she suffered six. Immediately after Mia stopped, Chisso performed a sing handseal-

 _Tiger_

A medium sized ball of blue flames flew towards Mia who narrowly dodged it. Another ball came immediately and it forced Mia took the chance and executed a jump kick that sent the airborne Mia back slightly.

Mia performed the standard clone jutsu and produced ten clones, the clones ran around and attempted to confuse their opponent but the lack of a shadow coupled with Chisso's quick eyes allowed her to finally hit Mia after three missed attacks and five impulsive dodges. The hit was powered by annoyance and carried the real Mia backwards a few steps.

Mia would have made another set of clones if not for the huge fireball charging at her courtesy of the Nenshō child. Throwing that plan out the window, Mia leapt to the right of the fireball; suffering a burn on her resistant kimono. She would have wondered how the girl before her wasn't getting tired if not for the Nenshō behind her name.

You see… Nenshō (4) enough said already; but in short the Nenshō was a clan that had allied itself with Konohagakure no Sato and that had its grand estate on the borders between Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire) and Taki no Kuni (Land of Air). Each member of the clan was born with a high affinity for either wind or fire. The main line had both and also had a bloodline named the Nenton. Chisso Nenshō was something of a foreign exchange student along with her twin brother.

*Wham*

A knee sent Chisso flying as Mia erupted form a line of clones she had created. Mia had been forced to take the last fireball head-on in order to prepare her attack. She had created lines of clones and had charged through the illusions to nail Chisso in the head.

So Chisso was suffering from a serious concussion and Mia had many second degree burns along her forearm; they would have been third or worse if not for Mia's quick replacement jutsu. The match was afterwards reduced to a battle of endurance as both fighters were going to fall at any minute. It was Chisso who fell first after a lengthy hand battle and a last fireball. Mia was cutting it close as she had bent backwards at the edge of the ring; her innate flexibility and balance keeping her perfectly still.

\- (Battle End) -

"Yameru… good match but Mia go see the Academy-" Mia fell backwards and lied there prompting Iruka to carry her and Chisso to the infirmary. "Mizuki, take care of the rest till I come back, please." Mizuki nodded and Iruka left towards the Sick Bay.

\- (At the Sick Bay) -

"Ah, Iruka I see you've wounded two girls today… oh that burn is large… I don't have enough Spec-Ointment for that. Iruka dear, do you think you could run to the nearest pharmacy and get me the things on this list?" The busty middle-aged medic said playing on Iruka's slight crush on her and perverted nature. The teacher in question nodded and then hesitated, the medic reading his expression said, "You have to worry about the injured before you worry about the well. Besides I'm sure Mizuki has it covered."

Iruka glanced at the unconscious girls and ran out of the sick bay.

\- (Fifteen Minutes) -

It had taken Iruka a bit of time since the first pharmacy was low on stock but Konohagakure was most abundant in pharmacies so he got everything at the second and third ones. When he arrived, he rushed to the Sick Bay and was met by an understanding school nurse.

Iruka walked out of the place with a blush and kiss marks on his cheeks and a smile on his face.

Hs smile dropped as soon as he got to the sparring grounds. Why was Menma's name on the map, why was Kōmori out? Why was Menma fighting Sanso? At least Hinata had been beaten by Jūkō Inuzuka… oh come on Hinata! These were his collective thoughts as he grabbed Mizuki by his collar and asked him these things; barring the last.

Believe it or not, Mizuki was a Minato fan and that admiration had descended to his son. In short Mizuki had thrown the tournament into whack by introducing Menma and the only way to resolve this was to pit Menma against Chisso's brother, Sanso and the winner against Shino.

\- (Ongoing Battle) - (Nenshō Sanso) - (Versus) - (Namikaze Menma) -

The two combatants were in a dead lock, down to their last attempts to down the other. The next jutsu would be the decider.

 _Rat → Rabbit → Dog_

"Take this, Fūton: Shinkūdama(Wind Release: Vacuum Ball)(5)" The shorter orange-haired boy whispered and blew a large ball of wind chakra.

Menma made no handsigns but the wind chakra was visibly green around his nails. He started with one diagonal swipe with his left and right. Then he cried as he performed another set using both hands simultaneously, "FUTON: SUKURATCHIKURŌ!" four long thin green lines of wind chakra flew behind the first smaller set. The force of the technique sent Menma sliding back.

There was a horrible whistling sound along with an imposing wind sound when the two jutsus hit each other. They struggled for five seconds before…

…

Menma's jutsu sliced through the vacuum ball and hit Sanso in the chest with enough force to knock him down and out; although the loss of consciousness was more from exhaustion. Not to say Menma didn't sink to his knees but it was after Iruka declared the match in his favor.

\- (Battle End) -

"Okay we will give the qualified time to rest as we go on lunch break… we won't however be giving them a full day. The reason for this is to build their endurance… But we don't want anyone killed so all qualified report to the sick bay for rejuvenation."

The crowd of students walked towards the main block to retrieve their Bentō boxes from their respective homerooms.

\- (An Hour Later) -

A bell was rung and soon enough all students of the Ninja Academy; both young and old, and all teachers gathered around the ring.

"Due to special circumstances, it will be Menma versus Jūkō and Shino versus Mia."

\- (Battle Start) - (Namikaze Menma) - (Versus) - (Inuzuka Jūkō) -

"Jin, distract him!" The girl started and her black furred overgrown puppy ran towards Menma baring its fine fangs. The dog managed to get swipes in using a hit-and-retreat method. Finally the now overconfident leapt at Menma's abdomen,

"Haah!" A quick roundhouse by Menma knocked the charging dog away and he leapt towards the girl who was his opponent, aiming to do some damage with his nails.

But the girl had her own set of nails and slammed them along with her palm into the head of the airborne boy causing him to hit the ground tumbling away from her. The cousin of Kiba wasted no time in grabbing his head and slamming him into her knee.

Menma would take no more and so he charged at the girl yet again and executed a jump kick that fractured the girl's right ulna causing her to flip backwards with left right. Honestly, the girl had not expected there to be that much force behind the attack so she blocked wanting to counterattack.

Menma released a barrage of punches on the girl who kept making _bunshins_ to take her place. The now enraged Menma released a variant of his usual wind jutsu catching the girl off-guard,

"Futon: Tsume Kakumei(6) (Wind Release: Claw Revolution)" When Menma completed his 360° turn a crude ring of four lines expanded from Menma, a part hit Jūkō and left marks on her abdomen and let her spit blood.

Before Menma could further the damage, the girl forfeited in haste; not wanting to miss out on class and besides this wasn't the Examinations; extra credit be damned,

"Iruka-sensei, I forfeit!"

\- (Battle End) -

\- (Battle Start) - (Ryūketsu Mia) - (Versus) - (Aburame Shino) -

"I must warn you… it will be illogical to fi-" Shino sidestepped to avoid Mia's senbon, "Very well…" Shino held up his right hand and a black cloud emerged from the sleeve of his coat. Shino controlled the cloud with his right and sent it towards Mia who was standing motionless. Shino abruptly redirected the cloud towards himself at frightening speeds. It split and converged behind him coiling around the hand of one Mia Ryūketsu."Do you want to pro-ah"

The girl's leg hit his nose causing him to drop the attacker and jump back. Adjusting his sunglasses, he sent shuriken towards the girl. It was dodged with simple replacement and the girl ran towards Shino who still had his hands in his coat pockets. Before she could get too close, she hesitated as Shino became Kōmori and then became Shino again but the damage had been done; she was sent flying from a reverse roundhouse kick.

"Nice trick but it won't work again!" Mia said as she executed a butterfly twist kick then a sweep that knocked the feet from under Shino but he executed a spinning kip up kick to get some damage in from the floor, both of them rolled backwards to get some space.

Whilst Mia was creating clones, Shino was analyzing each of them and had quickly planted a beacon on his target. With a grunt, he sent a kunai towards the target and sent another kikaichū cloud at where she reappeared after the quick _kawarimi_. Another replacement left Mia a bit low on chakra but relatively safe. After several more of the replacements Mia realized the movement of the cloud was slow and first she thought,

' _He's exhausted.'_ But after analyzing Shino's hand movement another conclusion came to her mind, _'He's getting me tired!'_ But what to do to stop it…

She resorted to shooting her senbon hoping for a lucky shot; well the first were to provide visibility and the following used the hole created by their predecessor for aim – so yes, a Shinobi's version of hoping for a lucky shot.

Finally she heard a startled gasp and the cloud slowed to a halt right in front of her. She jumped over the black mass and landed with her back turned ready to backflip and kick her opponent. But alas when her feet were of the ground and she was upside down she saw the blood sucking senbon straight in Shino's chest; more to the left.

"Oh Kami!" The girl backed away and finally fell on her bum… of course her mind hadn't killed before, seen the dead and the dying – yes that she had, but killed – accidental or not – she had

*Thud* her world went black as an unknown assailant hit her on the head.

The unknown assailant was none other than the dead Aburame; it's a wonder what a good clone can do in the right hands.

\- (Battle End) -

"Good Shino! But did you have to be so dramatic?!" Iruka half-scolded half-praised the boy who just ignored him and carried Mia off the ring. "Okay the finalists will be given a-"

"With all due respect, Iruka-sensei… let's put an end to this right now!" That's what Menma was saying but what he was thinking was, _'I can't wait to put the bug in the ground!'_

With Shino's consent Iruka announced the match.

\- (Battle Start) - (You know who) - (Versus) - (The other guy) -

Menma executed a quick swipe with his left and back kicked with his right. He dodged a straight punch from Shino by tilting his head then he ducked under Shino's elbow. His jab nailed the shades wearing boy in the gut and the subsequent ones dished out more pain.

Shino crouched in pain when Menma's last punch drove him away. As Menma cautiously approached, Shino stayed there. Then Menma sensed a presence behind him but turned too late; he did turn in time to receive the real Shino's punch in the face. Another punch was not to be as he was slightly more ready and sidestepping got him out of the way of that punch.

Menma whipped out a kunai and whirled it at Shino after jumping back. Shino of course had already replaced himself, but not with the ever-present log but with the kunai a few inches from Menma. When the transfer was done, Shino was air-borne and his feet was in Menma's chest; this came at the cost of losing much chakra in switching with an irregular object and a moving one at that.

So here we have a near exhausted Shino and an injured and enraged Menma. There was only one thing to do,

"Sukuratchikurō no Danmaku(Scratching Claw Barrage)!" Menma charged…

"Mushi no Tate (Shield of Insects)!" Shino braced himself…

The barrage of claws tore at the ready barrier of midnight blue kikaichū, the offender swiped at every spot he could find, he swiped low, he swiped high; hell he even gave roundhouse, back and jump swipe but the shield was nowhere near finished; taken it was skin, he would have gotten slightly through the dermis. He had to bring something in.

The wind chakra he tried to concentrate required a handseal and so he had to hold up his left in a special seal (7), one that manipulated the wind release, whilst furiously swiping with his wind-enhanced right. At this rate he would get through in a few seconds tops.

What was Shino doing inside his dome/shield…

He wasn't there… well the real one wasn't there; the 'real' Shino had vacated the dome leaving a wooden log and a bug clone – the shield should be dropping anytime now and so should Menma,

*Thud* no… that wasn't the sound of fist hitting body part or even body hitting floor, no it was the sound of fist hitting palm. Menma grinned showing off extra sharp canines and a bloodlust in his slit pupils…

Wait… slit pupils?

' _I'm too tired to deal with this!'_ Shino thought exhaustedly and groaned, "Iruka-san I forfeit… Menma – I said I give up… it would be illogical for me to – gurk-gurk… Men-Menma!" For the first time in sometime Shino had to raise his voice and act out of manner.

"Menma… that's enough!" Gasps rang out as the voice came from none other than… the Yondaime Hokage,

Namikze Minato.

\- (Endeavors Of The Grim #21, #13, #28, #9) -

In all the time that officer Tomi Fujioka had been in the police force, he had never come across a vigilante. Granted he hadn't been an officer for too long but it was due to his extreme curiosity and morbid fascination of The Grim's acts in the crime world, that he had started a map and database of sorts of The Grim's recent activities across Konohagakure no Sato; a case study of sorts.

His favorites were #21, #13, # 29 and #9… because he had been there.

\- (Flashback Start) -

 _Most crimes were staged either in broad daylight or in the dark of night, but this one was staged during the peep of dawn. It was a simple robbery; nothing much was going to be taken… only a precious jewel worth more than a billion ryō!_

 _This was why Saki's Jewelries had asked the Konoha Keimu Butai to provide twenty-four hour protection during the grand uncovering of the Kasai Sutājueru or the fire star jewel, a Jewel so radiantly red it had created a legend for itself._

 _The legend said that a wandering Shinobi of Hi no Kuni had wandered Dōkutsu no Kuni (Land of Caves) where the natives were ignorant of the use of chakra or jewels for that matter; being so far from the Elemental Nations. Well the Shinobi had been kind enough to assist the cave people with a beast problem. He had done so and the locals had rewarded him with the legendary Jewel._

In truth _the kind Shinobi was a greedy and banished thief. The savage cavemen were actually civilized and had renamed the land Hōseki no Kuni (Land of Jewels). The daimyo had a special Jewel, the Jewel. The beast was the man's pet lemur; an unknown species in those parts. What nobody knew about the jewel was that it was a rather cursed Jewel. If anybody who had stolen before saw it they would feel an irresistible desire to steal it and when it was stolen from them, they would lose all memory of it yet become kleptomaniacs. So this thief stole the jewel from the Daimyo and made off with it, taking his pet lemur with him._

 _Over the course of the time, the jewel had come to reside with a guy who knew a guy who was the middleman for Saki's Jewelries._

 _So finally one thief (an employee of Saki) in Konohagakure no Sato had devised a plan so idiotic that it involved him waking up at dawn and stealing the jewel without help; what would make his plan successful was that he was the Jewel's handler plus he wasn't the only one wanting the Jewel but Tomy didn't know that._

 _So officer Fujioka went for the early morning shift only to meet a locked door. Of course he barged in and found the Jewel gone and the door to the stairs open. He finally got up the stairs and saw the jewel thief bound and the jewel gagging him. Like any sensible officer Tomy influenced the crime scene a little and got a promotion; this contributed to his growing admiration for The Grim._

\- (Endeavours of The Grim #21) -

 _*wham* Tomy stopped turning the key in the lock of his door when he heard the sound of fist hitting body a bit from his apartment block. Well he had to investigate; occupational hazard, and so he re-locked his door._

 _*wham* *wham* *wham*_

" _Hey you stop that!" Tomy called out to the hooded man attacking the other guy, he would have ran to them if not for the plain view of the bloodied 'victim's' phallus when the assailant stepped aside._

" _You're an_ officer, _no?" Said officer nodded dumbly at seeing The Grim, "I'm sure you can discern why I'm beating this... this… hmph… just take him away before I kill both of you!"_

" _H-H-hai Grim-sama!" He was still stationary as The Grim dashed him, nudging his shoulder… Tomy made sure to never wash that shoulder of that shirt ever again._

\- (Endeavours of The Grim #29) -

 _The latest activity of the masked vigilante was one that Tomy wasn't present to notice but he was the first one there; it was a rather mind-jarring sight. There was a huge grotesque monster of some kind kneeling dead in the alley way, The Grim was lying right beside it._

 _Curiosity overcame caution and the officer rushed to tend to his hero. There was a pulse, thankfully and there was slowed breathing. He scammed the vigilante's body and saw that there were several cuts littering his body, some deep and some very deep. Luckily the officer kept some enhanced med-balm on him. He started with the deep ones as the shallow ones were healing pretty fast. But not fast enough and the chap was losing blood._

 _He looked at the demonic mask that his hero wore and his hand inched closer to it… who or rather, what was behind that mask?_

 _Well he would never find out as a foreign hand grabbed his own and pushed it far away, unfortunately for him, Tomy had to follow his arm on a short trip into a large bin._

" _You? You're that police chap that was kidnapped by those wannabes. Hmm. Well then let me give you some advice; Get in my way and I'll kill you… clear?" The scared officer nodded furiously as the other walked away._

\- (Endeavours of The Grim #13) -

" _Sir could you please help me!" A little girl in a dirty dress begged the corporal tugging at his jacket,_

 _Tomy being the sucker that he was turned around with a smile on his face only to be knocked out by a gloved fist._

\- (A whole hour later) -

" _Hey!" Tomy felt a boot prod his head, with the duct tape in his mouth he could only groan and so he did._

" _MMMM!" Tomy's screamed mask as he saw the demonic eyes of The Grim looking into his, he could feel the… boredom radiating from behind the mask. "Mmm mm mmm mm mmmm!" He didn't see the fist hitting his head but he sure felt it. "Mmm–aahh what was that for?!" He cried in indignation as his savior walked away._

" _You missed out on the action… these would-be priests tried to conjure a ritual and for some reason summoned me… don't let the collapsing building kill you on your way out." Tomy's eyes widened and he struggled out of his loose bonds._

 _Luckily he got out alive._

\- (Uzumaki Estate) -

"Okay now Boys and Girls! Pick up your travel-bags and survival gear…"Geiru commanded his students his students as they finished eating an impromptu breakfast.

"Where are we going Geiru-Ojisan?" Fu-min quizzed the older man as he wore his backpack, being chorused by his siblings,

"Tell me young ones have any of you heard about the Training Ground 50?"

Mariko, a girl with an enhanced intellect, replied, "The Farthest one from Konohagakure?"

"So do any of you know of Training Ground 51 then?"

"It's a myth sir-" Mariko was silenced by Geiru who said,

"And how would you know if you haven't been there?"

"That is why it's a myth: nobody has ever been there…"

"Nobody you know…" A whisper echoed across the room they were in emanating from the stairs. The adopted ones all bowed slightly to the owner of the whisper, it was the very first adopted, Rowena Uzumaki. "Mariko… you will do well to keep that know-it-all attitude in check out of a battle, am I clear!" It wasn't a question, no more of an emphatic to the order.

The subject, Mariko, apologized furiously whilst nodding; all the adopted were both afraid and respectful of Rowena, "May I just say you look splendid…"

Truly she did look splendid; a grey jacket and an ash crop top over a pair of form fitting midnight blue jeans, a loose silver chain belt and simple black combat boots don't forget the silver Panama hat with black band around the base complimenting her mostly silver hair.

It was a complete change from her normal formal tailcoat and trousers. "Flattery will get you nowhere… in my books, but it may affect others. Now as I see you are ready, there is no need to waste any more time." She gestured to the open door leading outside.

"Before you leave you will be given a temporary seal; my advice to you: Try to live with it." Geiru smirked as the children cued outside in front of him.

\- (Training Ground 50) -

"Okay, we will be getting to the unknown training ground in about thirty minutes… now we will be activating our seals in five… four!" Rowena activated the seals on the adopted ones behind her.

"Oh! W-w-w-wa-was t-t-t-th-that a ch-chakra negate… chakra negation seal!" Mariko forced out as a wave of normality swept over her body causing her to kneel like her siblings who suddenly felt so… normal.

"No… not quite, it was a chakra absorption seal; I'll tell you plainly – your 'father' is quite… specific ( _'paranoid'_ ) when it comes to you. He and Geiru designed this seal from old Uzumaki designs; it is transporting almost every ounce of chakra as fast as your chakra coils can produce." Rowena quipped without hesitation,

"Why?" Maris asked, it was bad enough he was off the ground but know he had no chakra,

"Ever wondered why so many people feel escape is hopeless when they are sent to Black Mountain? Or why Shinobi who lose their chakra commit suicide? Because the interrelationship between Shinobi and Chakra is very one-sided; more so for some of you…"

"y-y-you s-sa-said t-trans…" Mariko tried,

"Ah good of you to notice that… you see the seal doesn't act as just a sponge, no, it would get full instead it acts like a transport tube, a pump, transferring your chakra to an infinite pocket dimension concentrated around the seal."

"Y-You s-s-seem fine!"

"Oh me… I've done this before… many times," She whispered the last part, "You should all try to get some sleep while you can…" The giant falcon they were on cried and went higher into the sky; it was a summon, for those curious ones.

\- (At Training Ground 51) -

When they finally landed in the relative middle of the strange desert/forest hybrid, they just had to look around, it was a place full of sand pits and dunes but also lakes and huge trees. No doubt there were going to be some weird creepy crawlies around.

"I will be here for exactly thirty days then all of you who don't make it will be stuck here for another ten or so days, have fun!" Rowena waved at them hovering a few meters above them,

"Have fun?!" She dropped something

*KA-BOOOM* an explosion sent them all fly in different directions far away from that spot.

Elsewhere our familiar red-black-head was seeing another familiar blond; both had been away for a long time; both had children; both-

Minato and Ne Operative, Haiena (Jōkā), were about to meet to discuss something… top secret.

\- (With Naruto) -

Currently Naruto was walking down a familiar street, his head down and a hood over it. He was dressed simply: Black combat boots, Grey cargo pants, Black Double Collared Hooded Sweatshirt with red collar and cuffs, an open zip showed a dark red shirt.

So the meeting with the Hokage had not gone as planned and he was headed to the one place that used to raise his spirits; this time he had the money to pay.

Arriving at his (once) favorite ramen bar, Naruto entered and lifted his head to see an upgraded counter with an unfamiliar face staring back at him,

"Welcome to Ichiraku's… what can we do for you today, sir?" The waiter asked in a friendly tone,

"Do you know where I can find…"

"Sir?"

"Ayame Ichiraku… sorry I'm going to have to leave…" The waiter stared at the strange man who was leaving the bar.

"Gin… who was that?" A female voice asked the waiter.

"Some weird red-head… I think he was looking for you."

"Did he have any distinctive features, apart from red hair?" She asked again,

"Well… he was wearing dark-themed clothing… oh and he did have some thin jagged tattoos on both cheeks." The waiter said imitating lines on his cheeks with three fingers.

*BAM!* the staff exit/entrance door slammed as Ayame ran out of the bar,

' _Hmm, there must be an attack of the crazies!'_

"Naruto?!" Naruto heard his name and knew the caller immediately,

V: _'Act Calmly… nothing good comes to those who wait or rush'_

Naruto heeding the voice in his head walked like he hadn't heard his name being frantically called…

But for Ayame, he stuck out like a cool black thumb in a sea of brightly colored fingers; although some had black fingernails, "NARUTO!" She descended the stairs leading to a lower street when Naruto went down too; alas she couldn't find her friend where he should have been. In lieu of giving up, she ran frantically into the path of an incoming carriage. Whether intentional or not,

*FWoosh* is up for debate as she found herself in a nearby alley being held by aforementioned black thumb.

One would expect this alley to be as dark as night but no it was filled with light; light breaking through the many window-roofs that met between the two buildings. Because of the beams of light, she saw the man… boy's face.

*SLAP*

"Oww! Is that any way to treat a- woah" He caught her next strike and calmly let the young woman sink into his body; crying. His mouth quirked into a weird pout as he was a bit unsure of whether to talk or just pat her back, he settled on patting her back.

After a brief display of emotions, Ayame cooled down and rose to look into the boy's eyes. Truth be told he looked older and had grown taller.

"You don't… have to tell me everything but Naruto…" At the boy's response of 'hm', she continued, "Never leave like that again!" Naruto settled for that, he had no plans of going through all he had gone through for the last four or so years of his life… "So… how's your taste for Ramen?"

"Insatiable…" His slight pout twisted into a small grin.

\- (Hours Later) -

"Would you like another round, Naruto?" Ayame asked, ladle over pan,

"No thank you, six is quite enough," Naruto responded, fingers crossed over empty bowl,

Both were in the kitchen of the bar, the place had been closed a bit earlier and they were the only people in it. Ayame sat across Naruto on the small table, she stared into his eyes and asked, "What the heck did you do to your hair?!" She had liked Naruto's blond locks.

Naruto ran a hand through his black-lined red locks, pushing the hood off, "My hair?... This is my hair…"

"That is so not the color I remember, so what happened?"

"No, no you see, this is how I was born but in an effort to hide my heritage, it was dyed blond."

"And your heritage is…"

"I'm an Uzumaki." Ayame deadpanned,

"I noticed, what with your surname…"

"Yes but I'm a member of one of the ancient supporting clans of this village,"

' _Oh that Uzumaki!'_ Believe it or not, Ayame was rather learned in the matters of Shinobi along with many branches of Science. She would have made an excellent teacher or even librarian but yet she cooked, "Cool… I'm an Ichiraku, one of the best cooking families in the entire village."

Her sarcastic words made Naruto smile a bit, it also made him remember something, "Hey Ayame-chan, how would you like to be taught by the best cook in the world and also have a full-time job?"

\- (Reviewing The Plights Of Various Adopted Ones) -

Twelve mega-bugs; Fifteen Poison Butterflies,; A whole horde of Huge – Damned – Spiders!; Oh and she had thirteen days left.

Who is suffering the attacks of all these creatures?

A dark-skinned girl known as… Jenna, don't blame anyone she wouldn't tell anybody (only Naruto) her actual name.

This girl was not all that special in terms of powers; no, she was special on a different level. Without her chakra, she was still okay, not having depended on it for a long time but she found that her special ability was rather impossible to use here.

She had the blood of the _Ancients_ running through her veins, gifting her with the strange ability to shape life in dead creatures. In short she could create modified zomb-animals.

But for some weird reason (Naruto's interference) she couldn't transform the animals here. So you have a girl with her trusted scepter tearing through the very things her ancestors had sworn to protect; everyone with such blood was by default an animal lover. Everyone except herself, oh she loved animals but let them eat her; not a chance in the world.

Currently, she was displaying her skills in bashing and breaking bones with her skull scepter. Of course there are so many bones to be broken in a slug-snail hybrid and its disgusting leech offspring.

\- (With Another) -

Thirty five Killer Ostriches, Ninety-two human eating tiny lizards, Six of the slug/snail hybrids and too many offspring to count.

Currently Hoshi Uzumaki (née Yuki) was dancing through the eighth horde of spiders he had met. It was simple slice of their legs and then just leave them there. This would have been so easier if his bloodline was active. For the lost ones, Hoshi was a Yuki; you know the users of ice based chakras that were supposedly wiped out.

At this point in time, Hoshi wished he was his brother Fu-min – he needed sleep; badly. Every time he tried to get some another horde would pop up. What he didn't know was that he was exiting the nest of a family of desert spiders.

The boy had been thrown here by the last ostrich he had faced; he was in a cave it should have been obvious why he was being chased by the spiders. At least he had his trusted roller _blades_ ; shoes with literal cutting wheels underneath – good for ice skating too.

There was no time to worry however he had to keep going strong and dodging these annoying legs.

\- (With another) -

He had only met primates so far, carnivorous primates. Now he could say without hesitation – he hated monkeys.

Stick to the trees, they said; you'll be better they said. Now he wished he had followed Naruto's advice and trained his ground skills. His brother/paternal figure had told him, but had he just listened, he would be saved from all these wild primates.

He, Takuya Nobuyuki Uzumaki, would swallow his idiocy and approach his savior for training, if he made it out of here. Takuya used a tri-sectioned staff for his fights, he hadn't reached a mastery of it but he was better than any other half-breed.

He was from the same orphanage as Maris; and from the same lab too. Only difference: he was half primate-half-human. It was not liked it seemed, he wasn't a hunched boy with a deformed face. No far from it actually. Yes he had short brown fur all over his body and framing his face as sideburns and a spiky mess was just brown hair. He stood upright and was mostly bent only when climbing. His feet had long toes and distinguishable thumb-toes.

Of course this brought him trouble with the cannibal primates which he couldn't influence like other ones elsewhere.

\- (With The Last To Be Reviewed) -

What was with all these snakes and giant bugs? All she wanted to do was to find a place to rest. She wasn't in a nest; she was sure of that but there were too many of them here.

Was it because of her other side, well she had never heard of the preys hunting the predator; but then again she hadn't heard of a lot of things. She would have flown up and towards the center but for some peculiar reason, her trusty wings failed her after a few feet above ground.

You've probably guessed it but let it be re-iterated, Cho Yuu Uzumaki was an angel… not quite, but she was the closest thing – a nightingale-eagle-girl, the scientist in charge of her mixed up the bird samples and so she was equipped with the strong wings and sharp eyes of the king of the air and the bubbly personality and small stature of the frenzied flyer.

A sharp-tipped tongue ran across her pouty pale-yellow lips as she licked the bug remains of them. What? Birds ate bugs didn't they?

Equipped with a spear and a bow and arrow, this girl was a very dangerous markswoman; although the creatures in this forest seemed to prefer rushing in for close-quarters combat.

At least she had a spear.

\- (Twenty-Five Days Later) -

' _Okay, everyone was here… wait where's Alicia?!'_

"Aiiii" Said girl's scream was heard from deep in the forest. Rowena commanded her falcon to dive where the sound came from…

' _I hope I'm not too la-'_ her desperate thoughts, her hopes were shattered when she say the torn body of one Alicia Uzumaki. The primate that did it was dead before it could even blink at its, would be, meal. Rowena sealed both pieces of the corpse into a scroll and hopped back onto her bird commanding it to fly back to the estates

This was the slave-girl that Naruto had saved recently, she had not been especially powerful at all but she was still very street-smart and driven; just like he was. He had seen a piece of himself in her and something more and had decided not to send her _off_.

But now she was dead and under Rowena's watch no less. Naruto would not be pleased but she could save her.

\- (A Few Hours Later) -

"… You did just tell me… what you told me… right?" Naruto quizzed his first adopted one, his voice devoid of emotion,

"Yes, I did…" Rowena said with her head down,

*Wham* said head was slapped lightly, enough to make it swell at a point.

"You just created your first _one_ … congratulations Rowena…" Rowena would have accepted the praise if she did not know what was coming next.

Swiftly as swift could be, Naruto held Rowena's hair tightly and made her head rise forcibly, his eyes locked with hers.

"…" She had nothing to say, but he had.

"That process should have waited… you gave away at best a quarter of your soul, a quarter." Naruto's voice raised a little showing his opinion on the matter, He dropped her and she unceremoniously sank before straightening. "You will take full custody of the girl's training, am I clear?" Rowena nodded thankful that things weren't worse.

"So…" Rowena prodded.

"… Yes, I got in. I'm going to be leaving _that_ to you… be sure to manage them well, you may leave."

\- (Day Of Academy Graduation Test) -

At the end of four years, the Academy would test their new batch to see which had the potential to become genin and be placed in a cell and which had to go through the Academy again.

In this test, there were three parts: Theoretical Examination, Physical Examination and a Chakra Examination.

Unlike the Basic Education test, this one required at least three years of Academy Training in order to acquire a pass to take part. For Naruto Uzuamki, he had orders from above to go through the test. It was all going according to plan.

Well except for the part where he had unwanted attention,

Take Iruka for example,

"Where were you?!" A stunned Iruka asked Naruto whilst holding him to the wall of the Academy washroom; Naruto had just entered for some relief and had been apprehended by his former teacher.

Iruka felt Naruto's gloved hand curl around his right forearm and squeeze them till it went numb,. This allowed Naruto reprieve as he was let go and he tried to walk out of the room. Only to be held back by Iruka's left hand on his shoulder.

 _V: One of a Shinobi's best (but unused) tools is deception._

Heeding that advice, Naruto decided not to strangle his former teacher but to shrug the hand off and run off.

Or Shino,

Whilst walking with his head in a book, Shino, following acute memory, took a sharp left and,

*Wham* He slammed into a familiar person and both fell forward.

Not wanting to get on the wrong side of this person (for Shino did not recognize the hooded Naruto), he got off (the person) and up. Then he offered a hand of support but the person just rose back-forward disobeying some of physic's laws.

The fall had caused the hood to shift a bit and as the person was readjusting it, Shino caught a glance of peculiar black-lined dark red hair.

"Ano, are you here to see management? Because it's not that way… or are you an invigilator?" Shino quizzed staring at the stranger's back.

"No, Shino-ku…san I'm here for the Examinations…" The stranger explained causing Shino's eyebrow to rise in surprise; both at the impossibility of the fact and… the stranger's knowledge of him.

"You know me… but I have no idea who you are."

"Are you sure…" With a dramatically slow turn, Naruto revealed his face to the boy,

"…" A blank empty stare was his response.

"…umm" Naruto waved at Shino with his gloved left hand.

 _K: I think you broke him…_

"Hmmm… Oh well see you later then." With that Naruto turned and left a shocked Shino alone in the corridor.

Kiba was even worse,

Kiba became aware of a stranger in the back of the Examination room, sneaking around the class Shino stretched his hand and,

AGH! YOU! HOW?!" Kiba shouted upon his hand being caught in a quick grip. He found himself staring at a rather familiar face but his surprise was with how the stranger caught his hand.

"Your dog… he whimpers too much, kindly send it away ( _I hate dogs)_ " Naruto asked as politely as he could whilst pushing Kiba away. It seemed the force was too much and Kiba crashed into an empty seat.

Now you see how bad he had it, and on his (sort of) first day too!

Skipping to the part where everybody had arrived and the invigilator had finished sharing the papers and was droning on about the examination rules,

"… You have exactly an hour and forty-five minutes! Start Now!" He finished rather dramatically but who cared about this random guy.

The sound of pencil tip being dragged along paper filled Naruto's ears as he stared at his question sheet… They were relatively easy… He had completed the practical for that one… Oh this one was very stupid… Was that supposed to be a trick?

So in an hour and thirty minutes (after three read-through operations) Naruto had reached the end of his paper,

Fifteen minutes later, all the papers were replaced with another. Some of the students started to tear up a little because they hadn't finished the first one but Naruto was a quarter through this one (it was theory surrounding chakra and chakra control, use and application).

So at exactly nine in the morning, all the students of the Academy assembled outside for the next part of the Examinations – the physical.

All seventy (or so) Genin hopefuls assembled themselves into ten rows. Ten yards away from the first person on each row was a dummy standing straight. Atop and connected to the dummy was a long electronic board with the following on it:

Kunai;  
H(Head):  
A(Abdomen:  
H+(Heart):  
L(Limbs):

And then it was the same for shuriken.

It would record the total hits with each weapon and send it to the head teacher's and Iruka's computer; the latter for showing to the students).

Each person was given a set of ten shuriken and ten kunai. The dummy was made so the projectiles just passed through to save the invigilators trouble.

Kunai was tossed and some hit vitals others didn't hit anything, Shuriken flew through the air and some were thrown off by the wind whilst some grazed the dummy instead of going through.

Let us look at the scores for some people (Kunai/Shuriken);

Uzumaki Naruto (7/7); a good pass,

Uchiha Sasuke (8/7); a bit better,

Aburame Shino (7/7); well enough,

Mitarashi Ami (8/6); also a pass,

Mādokku Kōmori (8/7); ironically good,

Inuzuka Jūkō (7/6); well off,

Namikaze Menma (8/8); very good,

Inuzuka Kiba (7/7); good,

Nara Shikamaru (6/6); ok,

Nara Himatsu (6/5); narrowly passed,

Tenkō Nan (5/5); A mediocre pass,

Hyūga Hinata (7/5); an improved pass,

Nenshō Chisso (7/8); Good,

Yamanaka Ino (6/6); ok,

And so as to not bore any longer, it will be left at that.

But wait, that was not the end of the Physical – no, now it was the Taijutsu match.

Student versus Invigilator, purely hand to hand. For battle purposes, they had unveiled a big fifty yard field; twenty battles at a time. For clarity purposes, the student and matching invigilator were given a vest of matching color.

\- (Battle Start) - (Uzumaki Naruto) - (Versus) - (Random Invigilator) -

Before the battle could start it stopped, Iruka came over and whispered something to the invigilator. Naruto mentally groaned as he could hear what he was saying, he was trading places.

\- (Battle Resume) - (Uzumaki Naruto) - (Versus) - (Umino Iruka) -

As fast as a hare, Naruto backed away from Iruka and into the path of other fights. Since Naruto had refused to wear the vest, Iruka was forced to wear the black vest to subdue confusion. Now he looked for his black-clad opponent. Every time he spotted him and rushed to attack; Naruto would block, push him away and flee into another turmoil.

"Aaah!" A brunet was thrown at Iruka from his battle and hit him off guard. The result was Iruka tumbling to the ground.

Naruto quickly rushed in and pushed Iruka's right arm behind and to the top left in a superior hold. Flail and kick as he might, the teacher could not lessen the pain or get out of the strong hold so he cried out in resignation.

\- (Battle End) - (Twenty minutes, fifty-six seconds) -

Soon everyone had completed the physicals and was moving to the large Rejuvenation camp that had just been set up. They were given an hour of break and rest.

During that hour Naruto still couldn't catch a break,

' _I'll just find somewhere nice and quiet and eat my lunch… then maybe I can meditate a little before the last part of the-'_ He quickly turned as he saw Iruka coming in his direction, the man was just keen on getting answers. _'Right after, I deal with this…'_

As he maneuvered through the crowds of students walking around chattering about random things, he noticed that the man was still hot on his trail that is till,

*Swish* He was flung up to the cafeteria roof by his foot which had been caught in a cleverly concealed rope lasso trap. At least he was away from Iruka, that man was persistent.

Turning around, he was greeted with a recognizable voice, "I was skeptical at first because of your hair but my bats never lie, do they… Naruto?" Naruto gave a small smile and walked to Kōmori; what he did not expect _at all_ was the uncharacteristic tight hug.

' _Sigh… why must my life be so difficult?"_

They settled for just eating atop the roof although Kōmori burst out with memories that Naruto had missed in his time away – his first awakening, his birthday, the tournament (he thought Naruto had missed any) – and Naruto sat listening keenly.

At the end of the break, they both filed into the class where they would star as they were called one by one for the chakra portion. After one completed that exam they were moved to another classroom and again were called one by one to the headmaster's office to receive their headbands if their scores met the new standard.

So let's skip to Naruto's turn.

Most people were anxious – some even wet their pants – but our protagonist, he didn't feel anything as he walked into the room. It was filled with only three teachers at a simple long desk, who had mini-computers in front of them. In this room (as there were others) Iruka was present… again.

"Okay Uzumaki-san, please perform the handseals as we mention them…

 _Bird, Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Snake, Ox, Horse, Hare, Monkey… Monkey, Ram and Boar."_

After recording the results, they moved on.

"No we want to see you perform the four basic jutsu." Naruto did so with ease, creating a hundred clones at the _bunshin_ stage and enlarging all of them at the _Nise no Kakudai_ stage.

So he was led out and to the waiting room where he joined his peers.

After a whole hour, they were being called to receive the final judgment.

When it got to is turn the headmaster stared for a long time, cleared his throat and whilst wondering why Naruto had closed his eyes, said, "Uzumaki Naruto… you are now a Genin of Konohagakure no Sato! Congratulations."

He held out the shiny Hitai-ate for Naruto who quickly snatched it and walked out ignoring the headmaster's waiting handshake.

Naruto had recognized the man after seeing him and was very tempted to maim him for what he had done in the past.

 _V: You have a temper; learn to control it as it is one of the keys to your downfall._

So Naruto just screwed his eyes shut and bared through the interview.

At least it was all going to plan.

\- (Next Day) -

Today was the day when the 67 graduated students (excluding Naruto) would know what cells they were to be in.

Oh it would be too long to read through the 21 cells but then the ceremony could be narrated,

It began when Iruka came in and delivered a long speech that left many in tears including the man himself. Then he unrolled a long scroll and started to read, one memorable team was,

"Team 7: Namikaze Menma, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke!" Second-most unpredictable Genin in Konoah plus Queen Nerd/Stalker/Fangirl plus the grieved Uchuiha – what could go wrong.

At the end of the reading, Iruka sighed,

"Hey sensei I didn't hear my name!" Ami barked and Iruka sheepishly scratched his head before saying,

"Mitarashi Ami, Mādokku Kōmori, The Nenshō twins and Uzumaki Naruto are to go to the entrance of the Academy where they will be given further orders… Go now!" Iruka added and the mentioned group simultaneously walked out the room.

Once there they saw a woman in black robes who beckoned them closer. Once they were near the woman, they noticed they had entered a circle of some design. It was a transportation seal and with a single handseal from the woman they were warped away…

 _To Kami know's where…_

\- (Chapter End) -

1\. Prognostic Fist: A style created by the ancient Uchiha. It relies heavily on dodging and counter-attacking as well as the Sharingan… The stance is relaxed; in preparation to dodge and strike back. It's reliance on the Sharingan causes it to be rather useless to someone without it. One who is an expert at fighting could use this without the Sharingan but it has never been tried.

2\. Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu)  
Rank: C  
Type: Offensive Ninjutsu  
Range: Mid-Long  
Known Users: Too many to state  
Description: A technique where chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire and expelled from the buccal cavity as a massive orb of roaring flame. The scope of the attack is altered by controlling the volume of chakra that is mustered. The released flames will engulf their target, and leave a crater in the ground's surface.  
Additional Notes: The jutsu can also be released as a continuous flame-thrower (despite its name). The Uchiha clan uses this technique as a "coming of age" rite, and as such, is a common and favored technique amongst them.

3\. _Kyūketsu Senbon (Blood Sucking Senbon)_  
Type: Throwing Weapon.  
Origin: Ryūketsu Family  
Description: A special senbon that comes in different sizes (eight inches and above to a foot and half) and two types; Storing and flowing. Engraved with tiny seals that allow it to draw some blood from any organic tissue it pierces. The weapon is quite useful in weakening enemies and is widely used by the Ryūketsu family.

4\. The Nenshō (Combustion) clan is a clan not quite known but each year they send a few kids to join Konoha's Shinobi force. They specialize in Fire and Wind jutsu as most members are born with a high affinity to either. Those in the undiluted lineage are born with high affinities for both and also possess a bloodline; the Nenshōton/Nenton (Combustion Release).

5\. Fūton: Shinkūdama(Wind Release: Vacuum Ball)  
Rank: B  
Type: Offensive Ninjutsu  
Range: All  
Known Users: Danzō Shimura, Some of the Nenshō clan.  
Description: The user takes a deep breath and then exhales spherical bullet-like wind blasts. These balls of air are capable of obliterating anything they touch. The size depends on the chakra mustered.  
Additional Notes: There is a variation of this jutsu where the user fires several small blasts of wind chakra dispersed over a wide range making it hard to evade all.

6\. Futon: Tsume Kakumei(6) (Wind Release: Claw Revolution)  
Rank: Mid-C  
Type: Enhanced Taijutsu/Offensive Ninjutsu  
Range: Close-Mid  
Known Users: Namikaze Menma  
Description: The user charges wind chakra into long finger nails and makes a complete turn with their outstretched arm expelling the wind chakra. The result is a crude ring of sharp wind flying out. The Jutsu's strength is in its ability to slice and push an opponent back.  
Additional Notes: The jutsu depends on the length and sharpness of the users fingernails. It also requires the chakra output to be even so a ting can form.

7\. For future Reference;  
Fire Release: A flat hand with all fingers extended.  
Water Release: A flat hand with all fingers extended except the index finger, which is put under the thumb.  
Wind Release: Thumb and pinky are extended; the other fingers lie on the palm.  
Earth Release: Index and middle finger are extended; the other fingers are curled into the palm – known as Seal of Confrontation.  
Lightning Release: Index and little finger are extended; the middle and ring finger are held down with the thumb.  
These are special one handed seals for certain techniques.

 **Wow**

When I said Long Chapter I didn't think I'd write this but hey!

So I'm finally done… I finished yesterday (My birthday) but proofreading and additions took me into today. I'm off to bed but please after reading leave a review or something telling me how you feel. And also if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Also check out my Spiderman Fanfic. (If you're into that) and tell me what you think of it!

I wish I had something more to say but the sad truth is until I finish the next chapter of DoD, I won't continue this one!

So bye-bye… have a nice day/or night and please leave a Review or Recommendation.

Ja Ne, Till Next time!


	10. Not A Chapter

**Not A Chapter.**

Apologies for the disappointment, but due to the reboot coming up this week, I'm planning three things with this version of the story (dubbed Soul Eater 1.0), either:

Scrap it;

Keep it;

Or replace its contents with that of the reboot.

I'm going to let you guys clue me in on what to do so be sure to… I'll just set up a poll, so go check, links on my profile.

Some info on the reboot: It's a reimagining of this test run of a series with focus on the outside world, politics (I'll try my best with this), and drops of darker shadows of psychology. I'll try to pin more focus on Naruto as I progress but be warned, the first five chapters will introduce the Main Characters (both Original and Canon) you need to know about before the main story. I can't tell you much but I can tell you I'll be doing my best to make this story one of the best, no matter how long it takes.

Also a sneak peak for the first chapter, only for the loyal readers and beware spoilers.

* * *

Danzō Shimura was well into his cup of tea when the operative dropped in and knelt before his makeshift throne.

"Hmm, you, report." This agent had no name, only true agents were given names and in Danzō's eyes, the agent was lower than dirt despite his effectiveness.

"The operation was successful, the bill was effectively dismissed. The effective deconstruction of the opposition has garnered more support for our interests and the required fear has been seeded into the members of their Kuge. The informant was well compensated and other key members of the coalition have shown interest in your offer."

"And Sōsuke?" The operative seemed to hesitate before he rolled open a scroll of sealing and with a complicated hand seal sequence brought the corpse of the portly man from the seal, Danzō shivered, "This is the fourth target you've failed to bring in alive, Kasu!" the sentence was punctuated with a slamming of his cane's butt on the marble floor.

A young grey-haired Ne operative entered from the shadows, he nodded to Danzō and pulled out a tantō, then whispered the name of a kenjutsu as he dashed towards the man who was still kneeling.

* * *

Looks good? Check it out, link will be my profile, also don't forget the poll.

Side Note: Look out for the explosive new chapter to my Spider Man fanfiction with the introduction of our first major villain, The Vulture.

Till next time, TGE.


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